Its president Shafie Apdal said it was up to Ismail and his government to validate his position now.

The former Sabah chief minister pointed out that the King had clearly spelt it out that the person appointed as the new prime minister must bring the vote at the Dewan Rakyat.

“We are all aware that during our meeting at the Istana Negara, the King told us the method of appointment of the ninth prime minister was by way of statutory declarations,” he told reporters here today.

“Following that, he summoned all those who supported (Ismail) – more than 100 of them – to confirm their position and later decreed that the appointed prime minister must validate his position.

“I am saying what I know based on what the King decreed. I don’t want to listen to any other claims … it is not up to us now but the government of the day.”

Shafie was speaking after visiting landslide victims at Kampung Kopungit here today.

Attorney-General Idrus Harun had said there was no need for Ismail to table a confidence vote in the Dewan Rakyat.

Idrus said that if Ismail’s legitimacy still needed to be tested in the Dewan Rakyat, it would bring into question the King’s absolute power.

De facto law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar also said earlier today that Ismail did not need to go through the vote count, adding the prime minister had told him so during their first Cabinet meeting.

“Actually, when the prime minister was granted an audience, he got the King’s consent that he did not need to have a vote of confidence,” he said, in a press conference.

Shafie said today it would be good if the new government could carry out the vote if it valued transparency and wanted confidence from the people.

At the same time, the Semporna MP said everyone must move forward.

“It is up to the prime minister and the government to prove their numbers but what’s more important is to not spend too much time politicking.

Meanwhile, Shafie said Warisan would launch its official collaboration with MUDA soon. This, he said, was part of Warisan’s move to expand to the peninsula as announced before.

“We also have leaders who have become our sponsors at certain places in the peninsula and this is to ensure Warisan is made up of various races, not one that is based on a particular race or religion.

“If it is based on one race, it might create division and disunity which is what we don’t want. Warisan will move forward as a multiracial party,” he said.

On vaccines, Shafie said it was about time Malaysia produced its own vaccines, pointing out other countries like Indonesia and India are already doing it.

“Why can’t we do it? I’m sure if we invested more into research and development, we could.

“We are too dependent on supplies from other countries so this is a solution,” he said.