KUALA LUMPUR, May 8 — Speaker Tan Sri Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof has rejected Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s bid for a motion to keep the former in the post for the entire term of the 14th Parliament.

According to Mohamad Ariff’s written reply to Dr Mahathir, the latter’s motion was not submitted under Standing Order 27 as required of such notices. 

"As such, I will not allow Tun to bring this matter into the meeting,” the Speaker said in the letter.

According to a related China Press report, the Speaker also rejected a separate motion from Dr Mahathir for a vote of no-confidence against Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

When contacted by Malay Mail, however, Mohamad Ariff rejected the China Press report as false. China Press has since removed the article.

In a letter dated May 4 that Malay Mail sighted, former prime minister Dr Mahathir notified Parliament of his intention to table a motion of no-confidence against his immediate successor.

The motion had been complemented by Parti Warisan Sabah president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal’s motion of confidence on Dr Mahathir, which Mohamad Ariff already rejected after deeming it to be unconstitutional.

Parliament is due to convene for the first time this year on May 18, but the meeting that was already delayed from its original slot in March has now been shortened to a single day.

The government truncated the meeting by citing the Covid-19 pandemic as the reason.

Muhyiddin was sworn in as the new prime minister heading the Perikatan Nasional administration despite assertions from Dr Mahathir’s camp that the latter still had the support to be reappointed.

Neither Muhyiddin nor Dr Mahathir has publicly demonstrated that he commanded the majority support needed to be the prime minister and put an end to the dispute.

* A previous version of the article contained errors that have since been corrected.