Lawyer says Tommy Thomas wrong on Dr Mahathir, argues Cabinet automatically dissolved when PM resigns for any reason

• Published date: 02 February 2021
• Publication title: Malay Mail Online

Former attorney general Tan Sri Tommy Thomas was wrong to say that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's resignation as prime minister in February 2020 did not mean that the Cabinet under the Pakatan Harapan administration then had to be dissolved, a lawyer argued today.

Lawyer Muhammad Rafique Rashid Ali however argued instead that the Cabinet would automatically be dissolved whenever a prime minister in Malaysia steps down regardless of the prime minister's reasons for doing so, citing the Federal Constitution's Article 43(4).

Article 43(4) states that 'If the prime minister ceases to command the confidence of the majority of the members of the House of Representatives, then, unless at his request the Yang di-Pertuan Agong dissolves Parliament, the prime minister shall tender the resignation of the Cabinet.'

Rafique was weighing in on Thomas' memoir My Story: Justice in the Wilderness released three days ago, where Thomas had in the book's page 472 argued that the Cabinet could still continue on when Dr Mahathir resigned as prime minister on February 24, 2020.

Rafique said that Dr Mahathir had lost the majority support from Dewan Rakyat members on February 24 when Parti Pribumi...