KUALA LUMPUR: Muar member of parliament Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman's decision to withdraw his support from the unity government has resulted in the government being unable to retain its two-thirds majority.
Legal and constitutional expert Prof Dr Nik Ahmad Nik Mahmood said that when the government loses two-thirds majority, it becomes a major obstacle for the government in amending any federal constitution when necessary.
He said the actions of the Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) president were seen as a certain strategic plan to garner support from the unity government, which was seen to be ignoring some of the party's requests.
"Now that Syed Saddiq supports the opposition, it is a way to threaten, so that Pakatan Harapan (PH) accepts Muda or even gives more concessions to the party in the unity government," he told Berita Harian reporters.
He commented on the actions of Syed Saddiq, who officially announced yesterday to withdraw from the government, being the third force opposition.
Syed Saddiq explained the action was a protest against the decision to release without acquittal (DNAA) Umno President, Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, from 47 charges related to the Yayasan Akalbudi case, which Muda considers to be the beginning of normalising corruption.
Currently, the unity government, which was formed through the cooperation of 14 political parties, has 147 members of Parliament out of 222 parliamentary seats, which is one less seat to become a two-thirds majority (148 seats).
With that decision, the total for the opposition is 74, including one seat through Syed Saddiq.
For the record, in the previous 15th general election (GE15), Muda contested using its own logo in four seats, namely the Muar parliament, Kepala Batas parliament, Tanjong Karang, Tanjung Piai and Kota Marudu, but only won the Muar seat.
Nik Ahmad Kamal also did not rule out the possibility that the withdrawal of Syed Saddiq's support is indeed because Muda really wants the unity government to study the current decisions and policies related to the case that the government leaders are currently facing.