COMMENT | Forming govt by SDs again risks post-Sheraton chaos

COMMENT | Because our Federal Constitution was drafted initially without recognising political parties, Article 43(2)(a) of the Federal Constitution treats the formation of the government as if it is a business of individual parliamentarians.

It reads, “the Yang di-Pertuan Agong shall first appoint as Prime Minister to preside over the cabinet a member of the House of Representatives who in his judgment is likely to command the confidence of the majority of the members of that House.”

A literal interpretation of Article 43(2)(a) results in races in the collection of statutory declarations (SDs) between prime ministerial aspirants, who would then rush to the gate of the Palace to show their numbers.

Because of such ugly scenes, this method is widely discredited by Malaysians. Of course, it does not produce stable and lasting governments. If it worked, then the Muhyiddin Yassin government established by the SDs of allegedly 113 MPs on March 1, 2020, should have lasted its full term or would have dissolved the last Parliament.

The standard practice of parliamentary democracies in general requires...