SERDANG – No consensus has been reached among unity government leaders so far regarding the suggestion to enact a Fixed-Term Parliament Act, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Anwar, who is also the Finance Minister, said the enactment of the law is currently not a priority for the government.
“I look forward to a discussion about it, but at the same time, it is a little bit too premature for us to decide anything. We haven’t even had any comments from the AG (Attorney-General),” he told the media after the launch of the AI Untuk Rakyat (AI for the People) programme at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), here today.
Anwar said this in response to Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s call for a fixed-term Parliament, so that the formation of a government lasts until the end of the term or before the next general election is held.
Commenting further, Anwar said the problem now is that the opposition is making a massive attempt to topple the government.
“They are very weak now and they don’t even have one-third of the seats in Parliament, so why do we need to question this?
“My focus, my priority now is to do transformation, to transform this country in terms of good governance, to be an anti-corruption nation,” he added.
Meanwhile, in Butterworth, Transport Minister Anthony Loke said he believed Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said is looking into proposals for a fixed-term Parliament act.
The DAP secretary-general told Bernama such an act could help reduce political problems and prevent the arbitrary dissolution of Parliament before its five-year term is completed.
Loke said it is good “in principle” but how the law is implemented would be important. – January 16, 2024