A PUBLIC INTEREST movement advocating institutional reforms in Malaysia has urged the government to enact a “Fixed Term Parliament Act” (FTPA) in the upcoming parliamentary session in March to bring stability and accountability.
The group behind an initiative called Projek Sama (short for Project – Stability and Accountability for Malaysia) stressed that the proposed law was a manifesto promise of Pakatan Harapan (PH) in the 15th general election of 2022.
It was also one of the reforms called for by 33 NGOs and 52 individuals in the 2024 new year message initiated by Projek Sama.
With an FTPA, the government would not be distracted by schemes like the Dubai Move. It said this in welcoming the proposal made by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi yesterday to enact a law to prevent mid-term change of government.
Projek Sama explained that an FTPA would constrain the prime minister’s power in seeking royal consent for an early dissolution of parliament but leave completely untouched the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s power under Articles 40(2)(b) and 43(4) to withhold his consent.
“The king can still reject any request for early dissolution while the prime minister has to share the power to make such a request with fellow parliamentarians. This makes early elections harder,” it said in a statement today.
“The Madani government should start public consultation now for an FTPA bill to be tabled and passed in the upcoming parliamentary sitting in March.”
With an FTPA, Parliament must serve its full term of five years. The exception to this would be if the prime minister has lost the confidence of parliament, or two-thirds or more MPs pass a resolution to call for an early dissolution.
“With that, the prime minister cannot, at his whim and fancy, seek to dissolve the parliament before its full term, unless he loses the power.
“The decision to seek royal consent must lie within the House to minimise political adventurism, to assure an inclusive and stable parliamentary democracy.”
Abuse of statutory declarations
Projek Sama stressed that fixed electoral calendars not only feature in presidential and semi-presidential democracies like Indonesia and Taiwan but are also increasingly popular in parliamentary democracies such as Norway, Sweden and states in Australia.
A key feature of an FTPA is that it can stop any move that hopes to overthrow a sitting government by collecting statutory declarations (SDs) from parliamentarians, it said.
The FTPA can limit “loss of confidence” to any of the following three circumstances: the passing of a no-confidence motion, the defeat of a confidence motion, and the defeat of a budget (supply bill) in the second or third reading.
“The abuse of SDs by using them as tools of destabilisation is an exploitation of the federal constitution’s silence in Article 43 on the method in ascertaining parliament’s confidence in government or the loss thereof,” the group said.
“Projek Sama opines that counting of SDs by parliamentarians is in an underhanded and undemocratic way of forming and dismissing governments.”
It added that the FTPA can close this gap without contradicting the federal constitution or having a need to amend it.
Any formation or dismissal of government should happen by way of confidence and supply votes on the floor of the Dewan Rakyat where MPs can cast votes openly, it stressed.
The group also call for a confirmatory vote of confidence soon after the appointment of every new prime minister.
Both reforms should also be introduced in all states, it said. – The Vibes, January 14, 2024
