Posted on by Kit

With 10 days to his full-year as PM, Najib has lengthened his list of “dubious firsts” – this time, interfering with Perlis Speaker’s duties to act on the resignation of MCA Titi Tinggi Assemblyman

With only 10 days to go to complete his full year as Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has lengthened his list of “dubious firsts” – this time, interfering with the Perlis Speaker’s duties to act on the resignation of the MCA Titi Tinggi Assemblyman Yip Sun Onn.

This week saw the Najib premiership chalking up two “dubious firsts” apart from the many in his 11+ months as Prime Minister – the other being the public spat between the Inspector-General of Police and the Home Minister, with the head of police making the very serious allegation in a newspaper interview of a “third party” undermining his authority in the police, by giving directives to the police personnel behind his back, saying that the third party could be “politicians” or “certain individuals”.

Although both the Home Minister and the IGP had appeared jointly for a sudden photo-shoot yesterday to claim that relations between them had never been better, expecting Malaysians to be so simple-minded as to be taken in by their play-acting and to believe that the public spat between the two had never happened, the episode had gravely shaken public confidence not only in the Home Minister and the Inspector-General of Police, but raised fundamental questions about the cohesiveness and sense of purpose of the Najib premiership.

Najib had to reached in Hong Kong where he was attending an investment conference to give the last word on the latest flip-flop of his premiership – that Yip Sun Onn has not quit his seat although the Perlis Speaker, Datuk Yazid Mat, the Perlis Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohd Isa, the MCA President, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat and the MCA Perlis Chairperson Datin Chew Mei Fun had all publicly confirmed that Yip had sent and the Speaker received the resignation letter.

The Perlis Speaker openly admitted an unlawful act in withholding Yip’s letter of resignation and betrayed his petty outlook and lack of understanding of Najib’s 1Malaysia concept when he scoffed at my statement that the speaker had no right to try and convince an assemblyman to retract a resignation letter and should instead exercise standard protocol by submitting it to the EC.

Yazid told Malaysian Insider: “Anyway, it is none of his business…this is not even his state.”

It would appear that the Umno is even more afraid of MCA if there is a Titi Tinggi by-election in Perlis, although both have regarded Titi Tinggi as a safe seat for Barisan Nasional.

In the March 2008 general election, Yip won with a 1,814-vote majority polling 3,399 votes as against 1,585 votes secured by independent candidate Mohd Razi Mustapha and 846 votes by PKR candidate Keria Senawi.

It is clear that both Umno and MCA leaders are afraid of a by-election in Titi Tinggi for if MCA candidates loses or does badly, it would not only be a barometer of the fall of the Barisan Nasional government in Perlis but also in Putrajaya in the next general election.

This mortal fear for a by-election cannot however be an excuse for the Perlis Speaker to act improperly and unlawfully in withholding Yip’s resignation until all avenues are exhausted – including invoking the name of the Prime Minister – to compel Yip to withdraw his resignation.

As a result of the Perlis Speaker’s unlawful action, any voter in Titi Tinggi can institute a legal challenge questioning the legality of Yip’s status as State Assemblyman.

If there is a legal challenge, it will be another crucial test for the independence, impartiality and integrity of the Malaysian judiciary against the backdrop of the intervention of the Prime Minister in interfering with the proper and lawful discharge of the Perlis Speaker’s powers and duties.

31 Replies to “With 10 days to his full-year as PM, Najib has lengthened his list of “dubious firsts” – this time, interfering with Perlis Speaker’s duties to act on the resignation of MCA Titi Tinggi Assemblyman”

  2. Yazid told Malaysian Insider: “Anyway, it is none of his business…this is not even his state.”

    —————————————–

    Dear Perlis Speaker,

    Anyway, is it also Najib’s business to interfere? Is Perlis also his state?

  3. In all this, the point is this: Why is UMNO/BN so afraid of election 1 year after Najib took over. Wasn’t the point of removing Badawi to improve UMNO/BN fortune before the next GE? It does not look like there is any improvement and continue to deteriorate…

    Each UMNO/BN have to ask, how come they have done so much (evil included), and yet things are getting worst???

    The UMNO/BN system just don’t work anymore – like the NEP stopped working 20 years ago, the UMNO/BN feudal system is also running out of steam..It can only go down. The issue is does it go down quickly and better for everyone Or do we let them drag it out and make it miserable for everyone.

  5. When cross-examined by Karpal Singh on the witness stand:

    Chew Mei Fun: I thought he had resigned but I was mistaken. The sms about his resignation came from another MCA member and not from him directly.

    Perlis Speaker: I received a letter but it was in Chinese and so whatever it said tak laku.

    Najib: I heard from Moo Hee Din that the assemblyman did not resign. I didn’t bother to ask what, why and how.

    Moo Hee Din: I heard from the Speaker that he got a letter written in Chinese. As you know all official correspondence must be in Malay, so whatever the letter said in inconsequential.

    Ong Ta Kut: I heard he wanted to resign out of frustration with Liow and Chew Mei Fun.

    Ong Ka Ting: I heard he wanted to resign out of frustration with Ong Ta Kut’s leadership.

  6. ///As a result of the Perlis Speaker’s unlawful action, any voter in Titi Tinggi can institute a legal challenge questioning the legality of Yip’s status as State Assemblyman./// – YB Kit.

    This could be true. Speaker’s role, upon receipt of letter of resignation is to determine if that letter were freely made, and not forged or made under coercion that would otherwise render it void. Once that determined Speaker’s role is that of a messenger, to notify that to Election Commission (EC) whose duty it is, under present rules, to detrmine if a “casual vacancy” for which a by election has to be called within 60 days.

    According to Perlis Speaker’s own statement (reported in TheMalaysianInsider, March 24th) he was holding back the letter from EC as “we are trying to speak to him, trying to persuade him to come back to the Dewan. We have to cool him down.” Speaker Yazid also admitted that he had already known about the letter since yesterday, saying that a meeting was immediately called to discuss the matter with Yip. “Yes, we held a meeting in the mentri besar’s guest room yesterday with Yip, myself, two exco members and my deputy speaker”, he added.

    So the holding back of the letter from EC was not because Speaker had doubts about the letter’s authenticity or that it was freely made. It was solely for BN (UMNO) to have time to get Yip to retract. They’re not even from MCA.

    Speaker Yazid further said “Let some time pass, we will settle this amicably. There is no need to rush. I think we have managed to diffuse the situation”. He added that there was no time frame for him to submit the letter to the EC. [Now even the PM is dragged in to make a statement on this].

    No time frame? You mean he can (to stretch the argument) can hold the letter from EC for a month, months or even a year for these purposes? This cannot be. He will be guilty of interfering with the work of EC under the Elections Act to make a determination whether a casual vacancy exists for a by election to be called.

    The Speaker’s job and powers are confined to “proceedings” of the assembly the conduct of which he has imunity and the court could not review.

    However it has been decided in the case of 3 kataks against Nizar that this matter of resignation is outside the purview of proceedings of the assembly.

    I am however not sure whether it is “any voter in Titi Tinggi” or the Opposition itself tht my have legal standing to institute proceedings against such an action obstructing EC’s work.

  7. Yip’s integrity and credibility took a beating after he changed his mind and retracted his resignation.

    His action was no different from that of Ong Tee Keat who promised to step down but never did it after having lost the vote of confidence in the October 10 EGM last year.

    Yip will be despised and looked down upon for being so cowardly and flip-flop minded by fellow colleagues and Malaysians as what they did to Ong Tee Keat.

  9. Can some one ask Najib in the parliament if Barack Obama is considered a muslim? According to our law, a muslim will be muslim forever. In this case, shouldn’t Obama be a muslim? If he comes to Malaysia and drink, he will be canned 15 rotan?

  10. Can some one ask Nazib in the parliament if Barack Obama is considered a muslim? According to our law, a muslim will be muslim forever. In this case, shouldn’t Obama be a muslim? If he comes to Malaysia and drink, he will be canned 15 rotan?

  16. Why analyse endlessly? Why is everybody so concerned with his resignation? It is a BN safe seat mah? Face the people lah. Put a UMNO candidate there lah, after all 70% of the voters are Malays, so said UMNO Division there.

  18. the Speaker wsa not acting in his capacity as a Speaker but as a BN coalition member. he can try and beg and cajole but he can’t do it in his capacity as a Speaker.

    amyway, with BN people, the demarcation between state, public property and domain, political party and their own resource base is prettey blur….

    if Najib is scared about holding a by-election in his own strong hold…I wonder what shook his confidence

    as for the Speaker who said it is not one’s concern if it is not his/her own state, it is jus because he has no prepoer counter argument…wither 1Malaysia then? might as well 15Malaysia with 1Perlis, 1Kedah, 2 Wilayah Persekutuans, 1Sarawak blah blah blah

  19. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    Yip retracts resignation, says Perlis Speaker
    -MalaysianInsider
    KUALA LUMPUR, March 24 — The Perlis Speaker claimed this evening that Titi Tinggi assemblyman Yip Sun Onn, who caused an uproar yesterday when he quit his state seat, has withdrawn his resignation letter

    Speaker Yazid Mat confirmed with The Malaysian Insider that he had received an SMS from Yip (right) in the early evening, informing him of his retraction.

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Retract?

    Can the voters claim that they have ”retracted their vote” for the Perlis Speaker as their ADUN, or Zulkifli Nordin, Zahrain , Ibrahim Ali and the Perak’s 3 political frogs as their state/parliamentary representatives?

  21. Wah Najib can simply by pass OTK to tell Yip to retract, so its blatantly clear who is the “real” president of MCA. Its proven here then the Chinese learders installed to the various MCA’s leardership positions are nothing but a group of UMNO’s running dogs. QED.

  22. It is a curious situation that for an important issue like whether there were a vacancy of a state seat caused by a valid resignation or otherwise, an earlier hard copy of a formal letter of resignation in writing addressed to the Speaker is deemed not final but an informal Short Message Service (SMS) retracting it is considered, with alacrity, as final for these purposes.

  25. From day one of the mongolian incident, there’s no “turning back” for this pink lip fella.
    Among all the PM in Malaysian history, he’s the most sinful and “darkest” of them all.
    To these sort of people, how’re they gonna act fairly.
    You ask him not to poke his nose into affairs that could jeopardize his position?
    That could made him enough crazy, man…!!!

  28. BN was so scare shit of by election. They will try all means to prevent it happen. So was scare shit of local elections.

    Perlis Titi Tinggi was another shit story and shown all MCA fellow have no principle, or they only have principle only when BN head voice up. MCA is just another rat party with no moral with no power only look forward for money…money an money… so let them destroy themselves.

  30. chengho: “Zul Nordin speech in parliment today confirmed ultra kiatsu of PKR.”

    Just like his fellow disgruntled renegade turncoat outcast MP Zahrain, Zul has also confirmed his role as an ‘independent’ anti-Pakatan Rakyat propaganda tool for Umno-BN, the very party/coalition his own constituents had voted against in GE12.
    If Zahrain and Zul believe that anybody in Pakatan Rakyat had actually committed any wrong doing, they could & should have just reported to the police, instead of shamefully using the Parliament’s Dewan Rakyat as a platform to air their grouses, personal or otherwise, against their ex-boss Anwar, PKR and the rest of Pakatan Rakyat.

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