“Removal” of Mahathir, Mukhriz, Maszlee, Syed Saddiq and Amiruddin as members of Bersatu the most blatant display of “politicking” by Muhyiddin during the Covid-19 outbreak, giving the lie to his claim that since becoming Prime Minister, he had not thought about politics as the people are sick of it

The attempted “removal” of Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Mukhriz Mahathir, Maszlee Malik, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman and Amiruddin Hamzah as members of Bersatu is the most blatant display of “politicking” by the Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and gave the lie to his claim last month that since becoming Prime Minister on March 1, he had not thought about politics as the people are “sick” of it.

In fact, it has raised again the question why the Malaysian Parliament is locked down and MPs barred from performing their constitutional duties of parliamentary oversight and scrutiny of the Executive during the Covid-19 outbreak, when in countries where the Covid-19 pandemic runs into hundreds of thousands of confirmed cases with death toll in five-digit figures, their Parliaments are not muzzled or locked away.

Parliament in Singapore, for instance, met normally both before and after Malaysia’s one-day Parliament of May 18, when no parliamentary business was allowed to be transacted.

Muhyiddin’s greatest “achievement” in his Hundred Days as Prime Minister is his locking way of Parliament – earning infamy not only for himself but also for Malaysia.

Mahathir and the four other Bersatu leaders are challenging the legality of their removal as Bersatu members, but the lockdown of Parliament and the paralysing of the constitutional role of Members of Parliament of oversight and scrutiny of the Executive during the Covid-19 outbreak still await an answer from the self-proclaimed “non-politicking” Prime Minister.