PETALING JAYA: The Yang di-Pertuan Agong reminded Muhyiddin Yassin during a routine audience today on what the Federal Constitution says about losing the majority support of MPs, says a source.
According to the well-placed source at Istana Negara, the King did not explicitly instruct Muhyiddin to resign over the loss of his majority support.
“But Tuanku touched on Article 43(4) of the constitution,” the source told news portal FMT.
Article 43(4) states: “If the prime minister ceases to command the confidence of the majority of the members of the House of Representatives, then, unless at his request the Yang di-Pertuan Agong dissolves Parliament, the prime minister shall tender the resignation of the Cabinet.”
Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah had granted Muhyiddin an audience today as part of the prime minister’s weekly pre-Cabinet meeting with the King.
But today’s audience had set tongues wagging following the revelation that some 14 Umno MPs had signed statutory declarations to the King on withdrawing support for Muhyiddin and the Perikatan Nasional government.
After last week’s pre-Cabinet audience with Sultan Abdullah, Muhyiddin announced in a last-minute national address that he was not quitting despite pressure by Umno and other opposition parties for him to do so.
Instead, he said, the government will table a motion of confidence in the Dewan Rakyat in September to test his majority, adding that the King had consented to this.
This was followed by a press conference by deputy prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob where he claimed that 31 Barisan Nasional MPs will continue backing Muhyiddin’s government.
But this number has been disputed, as several MPs listed by the Umno vice-president were included in the letter to the King. They have also denied that they were still backing Muhyiddin.-FMT