No motion against Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's leadership will be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat on Monday, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz says.He said Saturday that the office of Dewan Rakyat Speaker had not received any notice from Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) regarding the matter until Friday evening.
"With this, we are giving an assurance that on Monday there will be no constructive motion of no-confidence against Prime Minister.
"The only motion is by the government on price increases which will be tabled by (Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister) Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad," he told reporters after opening the Padang Rengas Health Centre Day here.
He said the motion to be tabled by the government involved public interest and urgent.
According to Standing Order 18(1), any emergency motion should be informed a day early to the Dewan Rakyat speaker, he said.
Members of Parliament (MPs) also could not take the opportunity to combine the motion with one on the issue of lacking confidence in Prime Minister, he said.
Nazri said he constantly monitored the Dewan Rakyat Speaker office regarding the issue and was sure that no notice of such a motion had been received until Friday.
He said the Dewan Rakyat sitting on Monday would start with the question-and-answer session and followed by the tabling of the government motion.
On Wednesday, SAPP president Datuk Yong Teck Lee declared that his party had lost confidence in Abdullah's leadership and said its MPs were ready to support any motion of no-confidence against the prime minister.
Friday, SAPP Supreme Council consented to the plan to move the motion in Dewan Rakyat on Monday.
SAPP's representatives in Dewan Rakyat are Datuk Dr Chua Soon Bui of Tawau and Datuk Eric Enchin Majimbun from Sepanggar. They won the seats in the March 8 general election on Barisan Nasional (BN) tickets.
Nazri said his personal opinion on SAPP's move was that the party only wanted to voice out its dissatisfaction.
"To me, it does not matter because we cannot have double standards because the one criticising the present government the loudest is Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and we cannot expel him.
"Tun speaks loads of things but we did not kick him out. So, if SAPP speaks the same way and we want to take action, we are practicing double standards. We should have taken action on Tun," he said.
He said SAPP also had rights if it wanted to leave BN.
"If it wants to walk out on BN like Tun quitting Umno, go ahead. But for us to expel it, it would be fair because we cannot have double standards," he said.
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