The Prime Minister’s proposals for political reforms, including to limit premiership tenure to two terms and ban party hopping, are seen as steps towards the right direction to effectively combat corrupt political practices.
Minister of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Dato Sri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the move indicates Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s sincerity and commitment to bring about improvements in the local political scene.
He said for the longest time, these two issues have been identified as root causes for corruption in the country yet no political leader, before this, has made any attempt to do something about it. “Ten years is already a long time for a person to rule a country. It will be dangerous to allow a person to rule longer than that as it will promote kleptocracy. What Tan Sri Muhyiddin did is a testament of his leadership and seriousness to eradicate corruption,” he said adding that he also agrees to an amendment of the law to speed up the process to allow 18-year-old citizens to vote.
On proposals for parliamentary reforms, Junaidi fully supports the formation a bipartisan collaboration in parliament to resolve issues concerning COVID-19 and to assist with the nation’s recovery plan. “This is indeed a step towards the right direction for a healthier and more mature political landscape. Opposition parties should not be viewed as the enemy. Instead, we should engage them so that they too can contribute. “As such, I am in favour that all Member of Parliament should receive the same annual allocation, regardless of where they stand, politically. I also support proposal that an opposition leader should be accorded with facilities and perks of a senior minister,” he said.
Junaidi, who is also a former Dewan Rakyat Deputy Speaker, said fully support suggestions to equally divide the chairmanship of Parliamentary Select Committee between the government and opposition. Such a move could further enhance the check and balance system, which will lead to efforts towards parliamentary reforms.
Overall, the proposals for reforms offered by the PM are indeed historical and momentous. “We have seen Barisan Nasional reformations agendas, we have seen Pakatan Harapan reformation proposal and now from Perikatan Nasional, which I consider as to lead the rest.
If there is enough support to the proposal, a true structural reform has come to Malaysia, which have never been attempted before and which, I believe, no political government will ever do again, not in Malaysia for long time to come. “For now, we should put all of our differences aside and focus on how to overcome the current COVID-19 situation. There is no time for self-serving politicking. I think all Malaysian should support the Prime Minister and Pakatan Nasional (PN) government in this,” he added.
