Will Muhyiddin emulate the example of Tun Hussein Onn and convene an emergency meeting of Parliament this month to secure a vote of confidence in him as Prime Minister to establish that he is a legitimate Prime Minister?

The parliamentary meeting scheduled to meet for a month from Monday, March 9, 2020 has been postponed till May 18, 2020.

This has been interpreted as “a sign of weakness” that the Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin does not have the majority support of Members of Parliament to be a legitimate Prime Minister of Malaysia.

The holding of Parliament during the puasa month raises eyebrows as it must be the first time in the nation’s history of over six decades that Parliament is meeting during puasa month.

Why can’t Parliament be convened to end its meeting before the start of puasa month, which is expected to begin on April 25, 2020?.

Even if the first working meeting of Parliament under Muhyiddin has to be held during puasa month, is Muhyiddin prepared to emulate the example of the third Prime Minister, Tun Hussein Onn, who had convened an emergency meeting of Parliament on January 26, 1976 – eleven days after his appointment as the third Prime Minister of Malaysia on the death of Tun Razak – to demonstrate that he had the confidence of the majority of the Members of Parliament?

It was only after a vote of confidence in him as Prime Minister of Malaysia was passed by Dewan Rakyat on January 26, 1976 that Parliament went on with its ordinary business with the annual opening of Parliament fixed on 30th March 1976, which had as its first working business the oath-taking ceremony of the then new MP for Pekan, Najib Tun Razak!

Forty-four years ago, there was no doubt or question about majority support of Members of Parliament in Tun Hussein Onn as the Prime Minister of Malaysia.

But today, it is very different, as Malaysians, including the fourth and seventh Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, do not believe that Muhyiddin enjoys majority support of Members of Parliament.

Is Muhyiddin prepared to convene an emergency meeting of Parliament in March itself, as Tun Hussein undoubtedly would have done in the present circumstances, to secure a vote of confidence from Members of Parliament?