Government falls when PM resigns, says ex-judge

[superadmin]

PETALING JAYA: The entire government falls when the prime minister resigns from office, as held by court rulings, a retired judge says.

Gopal Sri Ram said this was decided in the 1995 High Court ruling in the case of Amir Kahar Tun Datu Mustapha v Mohd Said Keruak (then the Sabah governor).

In that case, Sabah chief minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan had resigned from office but Amir Kahar, who was a deputy chief minister, would not relinquish his position although a new chief minister had been appointed.

“The court held that the cabinet goes along with the chief minister (head of government),” Sri Ram said, adding that this legal principle was affirmed by the Federal Court in the Perak case in 2010.

He was responding to Parit Buntar MP Mujahid Yusof Rawa’s statement yesterday that Muhyiddin Yassin would be pushed to resign “in the next day or two” after Umno withdraws its support for him as prime minister.


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