Govt to get public feedback on proposed laws to curb party hopping and limit PM’s term

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 25 — Putrajaya wants to know what Malaysians think before it enacts laws that limit the prime minister’s term and stop elected lawmakers from switching political parties, which has been shown to cause the collapse of the government of the day.

To that end, the federal government has launched two surveys to obtain public feedback on these issues, which is also part of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on administrative reform it signed in October with the Pakatan Harapan Opposition coalition.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Parliament and Law) Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar announced this in the Dewan Rakyat during Question Time today.

He said both studies are spearheaded by the Legal Affairs Division (BHEUU) of the Prime Minister’s Department.

“A questionnaire was developed by BHEUU to get views from MPs and the public relating to anti-hopping legislations from November 23 to December 7, 2022.

“Another questionnaire was also prepared to obtain public feedback regarding the limiting of a Prime Minister’s term to 10 years which can be answered from November 24 to December 8,” he told the Dewan Rakyat.

He was responding to Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who asked the government to state the latest status of the implementation of the MoU on Transformation and Political Stability and matters agreed between the government and Pakatan Harapan.

Both surveys are accessible through BHEUU’s official portal.

On the anti-hopping legislature, Wan Junaidi said a meeting between Pengerang MP Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said and the heads of political parties will be held in December to obtain their views and to update the government’s current stance in regards to the proposed law.

He also revealed that a draft Bill had been prepared which was still under embargo, but noted that there were still many policy matters which remained unanswered as briefed to the members of the Political Transformation and Stability steering committee on November 24.

“Therefore, a technical committee will be formed with the membership of three Opposition MPs and three government MPs to review said unanswered matters,” he said.

As for the legislature limiting the PM’s tenure, Wan Junaidi said BHEUU along with the Attorney General will be submitting their preliminary findings latest by this month’s end after reviewing the parameters, content and implications of the Bill.