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At 3.45 this afternoon, Malaysian parliamentary opposition leader Azizah (Anwar's wife) filed a notice for an emergency motion of no-confidence agaianst the Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi at the Speaker's office (she is seen walking towards the Speaker's office in top picture, holding the notice in her hand and escorted by opposition leaders). The Speaker, Pandikar Amin will make known his decision whether to allow the motion when Parliament resumes sitting on Monday.
Three hours later, at a press conference after chairing the UMNO (major partner of BN, Malaysia's ruling coalition) supreme council meeting, Abdullah announced that he will hand over the premiership to his deputy Najib Razak in June 2010 (lower picture). By then, Abdullah would have served about half of his 5-year mandate given by the electorate on March 8.
Abdullah also announced that he would also hand over the UMNO presidency to Najib at the same time. He would in the meantime defend his presidency in the party polls in December, adding that he wants Naib to continue to be his deputy.
See how effective a motion of no-confidence is? And the motion is not even tabled yet! It's just a notice of intention and don't know yet whether it would be allowed by the Speaker on Monday. Even if it's allowed, it won't legally affect Abdullah as there will only be a debate and no voting. Because this (emergency motion) is the 'short cut' method. Only the 'long cut' method, if allowed, would result in voting in Parliament but this requires a 14-day notice.
Coming to think of it, SAPP should have just gone ahead and use this 'short cut' method the last three weeks that Parliament has been in session just to show Sabahans that the party was serious and not 'main-main' (play play). After all, under this method the question of the motion being defeated does not arise as there is no voting involved. And after all, the party had aleady disturbed the hornest' nest after its president Yong Teck Lee dropped a bombshell mid-June and got nothing to lose. As it this now, SAPP has somehow lost the trust of some, if not most, Sabahans. If 3 weeks ago, SAPP's credibility and popularity with Sabahans was at its highest now it's at its lowest ebb. Yesterday, a local Chinese newspaper said overnight (following Chua's statement 2 days ago) the SAPP has changed from a 'hero' in the eyes of Sabahans to a mild bear.
Now the opposition Pakatan Rakyat in general and PKR in particular has stolen the limelight from SAPP, although I suspect that PKR is doing it just to divert attention away from the latest sodomy accusation against its de facto leader Anwar.
It remains interesting to see whether the two SAPP MPs would support the motion on Monday if the debate is allowed. One of the duo, Dr Chua Soon Bui, seems to be singing a slightly different tune lately. Yesterday, Yong claimed that Chua and SAPP deputy president Raymond Tan were being used by BN to split the party and isolate him.
No wonder popular Malaysian blogger Ahiruddin Attan (Rocky's Bru) said he was getting fed-up and would stop blogging politics for 48 hours.
Three hours later, at a press conference after chairing the UMNO (major partner of BN, Malaysia's ruling coalition) supreme council meeting, Abdullah announced that he will hand over the premiership to his deputy Najib Razak in June 2010 (lower picture). By then, Abdullah would have served about half of his 5-year mandate given by the electorate on March 8.
Abdullah also announced that he would also hand over the UMNO presidency to Najib at the same time. He would in the meantime defend his presidency in the party polls in December, adding that he wants Naib to continue to be his deputy.
See how effective a motion of no-confidence is? And the motion is not even tabled yet! It's just a notice of intention and don't know yet whether it would be allowed by the Speaker on Monday. Even if it's allowed, it won't legally affect Abdullah as there will only be a debate and no voting. Because this (emergency motion) is the 'short cut' method. Only the 'long cut' method, if allowed, would result in voting in Parliament but this requires a 14-day notice.
Coming to think of it, SAPP should have just gone ahead and use this 'short cut' method the last three weeks that Parliament has been in session just to show Sabahans that the party was serious and not 'main-main' (play play). After all, under this method the question of the motion being defeated does not arise as there is no voting involved. And after all, the party had aleady disturbed the hornest' nest after its president Yong Teck Lee dropped a bombshell mid-June and got nothing to lose. As it this now, SAPP has somehow lost the trust of some, if not most, Sabahans. If 3 weeks ago, SAPP's credibility and popularity with Sabahans was at its highest now it's at its lowest ebb. Yesterday, a local Chinese newspaper said overnight (following Chua's statement 2 days ago) the SAPP has changed from a 'hero' in the eyes of Sabahans to a mild bear.
Now the opposition Pakatan Rakyat in general and PKR in particular has stolen the limelight from SAPP, although I suspect that PKR is doing it just to divert attention away from the latest sodomy accusation against its de facto leader Anwar.
It remains interesting to see whether the two SAPP MPs would support the motion on Monday if the debate is allowed. One of the duo, Dr Chua Soon Bui, seems to be singing a slightly different tune lately. Yesterday, Yong claimed that Chua and SAPP deputy president Raymond Tan were being used by BN to split the party and isolate him.
No wonder popular Malaysian blogger Ahiruddin Attan (Rocky's Bru) said he was getting fed-up and would stop blogging politics for 48 hours.
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