KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 7 — Former Sungai Petani MP Datuk Johari Abdul has reportedly confirmed that his name is among the candidates that are proposed as the Dewan Rakyat Speaker.
The PKR’s Gurun assemblyman told Malaysiakini that a few names have already been submitted by all sorts of parties and it’s understood that his name is among them.
“Maybe [I will be the speaker],” Johari was quoted saying.
The Kedah’s state assembly Opposition leader was offered the Speaker post in 2018 when Pakatan Harapan took over Putrajaya after the 14th general election but he turned it down because he wants to retain his position in the state assembly.
The Constitution states an assembly person chosen as the Dewan Rakyat speaker has to withdraw from the state legislative assembly.
Malaysiakini also said that they have learned that the government had submitted BN’s Cameron Highland MP Ramli Md Nor and another name from DAP for the Speaker post.
Ramli, who is the acting deputy speaker had not responded to Malaysiakini at the time of writing.
This comes as former de facto law minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar and former Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof were rumoured to be named as the government’s proposed names for the role.
Perikatan Nasional (PN) also said earlier that they had submitted a candidate for the Dewan Rakyat Speaker post without revealing the name.
Parliament will convene for two days on December 19 with selecting a new Speaker and motioning a confidence vote for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as the top priorities.
