KUALA LUMPUR – Several reforms championed by Pakatan Harapan (PH) faced resistance from within when the coalition was in power, said Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman.
Speaking during an interview with BFM Radio today, the former youth and sports minister disclosed how allied parliamentarians had voiced their disagreement with some of the amendments being pushed.
These included those that were part of the coalition manifesto, such as reducing the voting age from 21 to 18 and the introduction of a political funding act.
“There was a lot of resistance even among our allies when we pushed for Undi18, something that is so simple.”
Also present at the interview were former deputy women, family and community development minister Hannah Yeoh and Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs democracy and governance manager Aira Azhari.
“And when we talked about giving equal allocation among MPs and introducing a political funding act, some said ‘now we are already part of the government, Umno still has money, and we need to ensure we diversify our income base’.
“All this shouldn’t have happened. We should not support reforms based only on political convenience,” said the independent lawmaker.
However, he did not disclose who resisted the reforms.
The amendment to reduce voting age has been passed in Parliament, although the political funding law has yet to be tabled.
Syed Saddiq also disclosed how he had to convince the then-chairman of Bersatu Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to steamroll Undi18 through the party.
He said many in the party had disagreed with the change and that it would most likely have been rejected if the matter was put to vote in Bersatu.
He also admitted that PH should have done better in expediting some of the reforms, including limiting the term of the prime minister, returning independence to several government bodies, and equalising parliamentary allocations across the divide.
“Now this is why MPs are jumping ship, not just because of the lack of an anti-hopping law, but because of the funding. All these should have been done faster.”
On the implementation of Undi18 and the automatic registration of voters, scheduled for July, Syed Saddiq said he was informed that the system has been ready since last month.
He added that the reason the government has yet to gazette the amendment is because it fears the influx of 7.8 million new young voters could backfire on it in the coming general election. – The Vibes, March 11, 2021
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