Pakatan Rakyat has claimed that the anticipated suspension of four of its MPs on Thursday will lead to BN regaining its two-thirds majority in Parliament.
Rasah MP Anthony Loke said the implications of this are huge and the consequences dire for Pakatan.
"Maybe this opportunity will be used by BN to amend the federal constitution or re-draw the electoral boundaries," he told reporters at the Parliament lobby today.
A motion to suspend Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim for six-months was tabled yesterday in a bid to censure him for claiming that Apco Worldwide - a public relations firm that advises the Najib administration - was linked to the Zionist regime.
Following this, he was referred to the rights and privileges committee which recommended for Anwar's suspension despite not hearing his defence.
The committee's investigation has been criticised by three Pakatan MPs - Azmin Ali (PKR-Gombak), R Sivarasa (PKR-Subang) and Karpal Singh (DAP-Bukit Gelugor).
They have since been alleged to have broken an embargo on the committee's report and a motion will be tabled today to suspend them for six months as well.
Loke said speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia had "allowed the federal government to use their majority as they like".
“Tomorrow they will pass a motion to suspend Anwar and now three more MPs from Pakatan. I see a hidden agenda here.
“This will have huge political implications for Pakatan in Parliament because now there are 77 MPs. If four are suspended, it would mean that, over the next six months, we will lose our one-third number in the House. We will only have 73 in MPs."
- Malaysiakini
Rasah MP Anthony Loke said the implications of this are huge and the consequences dire for Pakatan.
"Maybe this opportunity will be used by BN to amend the federal constitution or re-draw the electoral boundaries," he told reporters at the Parliament lobby today.
A motion to suspend Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim for six-months was tabled yesterday in a bid to censure him for claiming that Apco Worldwide - a public relations firm that advises the Najib administration - was linked to the Zionist regime.
Following this, he was referred to the rights and privileges committee which recommended for Anwar's suspension despite not hearing his defence.
The committee's investigation has been criticised by three Pakatan MPs - Azmin Ali (PKR-Gombak), R Sivarasa (PKR-Subang) and Karpal Singh (DAP-Bukit Gelugor).
They have since been alleged to have broken an embargo on the committee's report and a motion will be tabled today to suspend them for six months as well.
Loke said speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia had "allowed the federal government to use their majority as they like".
“Tomorrow they will pass a motion to suspend Anwar and now three more MPs from Pakatan. I see a hidden agenda here.
“This will have huge political implications for Pakatan in Parliament because now there are 77 MPs. If four are suspended, it would mean that, over the next six months, we will lose our one-third number in the House. We will only have 73 in MPs."
- Malaysiakini
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ONSTITUTIONAL EXPLANATION FOR WHY BN HAS NOT REGAINED TWO THIRDS MAJORITY
Constitutional amendment bills must be passed in each House of Parliament “by the votes of not less than two-thirds of the total number of members [MPs] of” that House (Art. 159(3) of the Federal Constitution). Thus, for the Dewan Rakyat, the minimum number of votes required is 148, being two-thirds of its 222 members. The temporary suspension of some MPs from attending its proceedings does not lower the number of votes required for amending the Constitution (i.e. 148) as the suspended MPs are still members of the Dewan Rakyat. If they were no longer MPs, then there would have to be by-elections for their constituencies and that is clearly not going to happen - which proves that even though they are suspended, they are still MPs.
In other words, as the total number of members of the Dewan Rakyat remains the same even if some of the MPs may be temporarily prohibited from attending its proceedings, the number of votes required to amend the Constitution must also remain the same – 148 out of 222.
Thus, although BN may have a 2/3rd control of the Dewan Rakyat without the suspended MPs, they are still not able to amend the constitution, which requires a minimum of 148 votes i.e. 2/3rds of the total number of MPs (including those which have been suspended). As BN only has 137 seats, even with the additional votes from the 6 BN friendly independents (making a total of 143), they still will not have the required minimum 148 votes to amend the Constitution.
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