mystory - 20 april 2008

news one.
"Mingguan Malaysia: Tak berhak minta PM letak jawatan."

UMNO tidak berhak meminta PM, DS Abdullah Ahmad Badawi meletakkan jawatan sebagai Presiden UMNO dan Perdana Menteri. Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri, DS Mohamad Nazri Aziz berkata, ini kerana pemilihan Abdullah sebagai Perdana Menteri dibuat oleh rakyat, justeru UMNO tidak boleh menafikan hak rakyat.

"Kenapa UMNO menafikan hak rakyat yang pilih Pak Lah sebagai Perdana Menteri dengan memintanya meletak jawatan. UMNO tidak ada hak menafikan kemahuan majoriti pegundi yang mengundi Barisan Nasional, yang tahu Pak Lah adalah Perdana Menteri" katanya.

Menurutnya, adalah tidak sesuai bagi parti meminta Perdana Menteri meletak jawatan kerana semasa pilihan raya yang lalu, rakyat telah memilih BN yang menjadi parti majoriti di Parlimen.

my comments:

with all due respect DS Nazri, in this country the rakyats do not choose the Prime Minister. in an election, the rakyats would choose the party that they think would be best to govern the country. this is not America whereby the voters directly elect the President.

BN has 14 component parties. As a coalition, it works on consensus. in theory, the leaders of BN would deliberate and choose among themselves who would lead BN and become the Prime Minister. by tradition, the President of UMNO would also be the Prime Minister. simply because UMNO is the biggest party in the coalition - it has the most number of members and most number of elected representatives. as such, the President of UMNO is deemed to have the mojority of the support.

and who elects the President of UMNO? its members. every 3 years, UMNO election would take place to elect its top leaders. and that 'power to elect' rests with some 2500 delegates. they elect the President of UMNO. and indirectly elect the Prime Minister as well. that is why UMNO election is closely watched by everybody.

therefore, the members have every right to ask PM Abdullah Badawi to step down as the President of UMNO. by stepping down he would have to resign as the Prime Minister as well - it's a package deal. 2 in 1 kind of thing. well, theoretically he can continue as Prime Minister without being President of UMNO if he can get the BN MPs to support him. but that is highly unlikely. in this country, tradition goes a long way.