KUALA LUMPUR: The proposal to introduce a law that would allow a government to serve its full five-year term is seen as the right move to prevent any attempt to betray the people’s mandate.
According to political analysts, there is justification for introducing such a law, including preventing any plot to overthrow the current government on the grounds of instability or for irrational reasons, which would bypass the parliamentary democracy system.
They said that typically, a country is governed by a government formed by a political party that has obtained the people’s mandate through the electoral process, and attempts to overthrow this government are seen as a betrayal.
Geostrategist and political analyst from the Nusantara Academy for Strategic Research (NASR) Prof Dr Azmi Hassan said that based on past events of changing or overthrowing the government, it was done based on decisions made by Members of Parliament (MPs) themselves without a mandate from the people.
“During the ‘Sheraton Move’ (2020) and now there are claims of the ‘Dubai Move’, the representatives involved certainly never asked or sought the opinion of the people (to change the government or prime minister).
“That is why the proposal to enact this law is believed to be able to restore the voice of the people,” he told Bernama.
On Jan 13, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi proposed introducing a fixed parliamentary term bill to ensure a particular government is maintained until the end of its term, and prevent the recurrence of instances where the prime minister was changed three times during the 14th parliament term.
Meanwhile, Assoc Prof Dr Awang Azman Awang Pawi said the proposed bill could serve as a more institutional and parliamentary mechanism in proving the legitimacy of a government.
The socio-political analyst from Universiti Malaya also suggested that if the bill is formulated, the element of bringing motions to Parliament should be made an imperative for testing the legitimacy of a government or support for a prime minister.
He said that this means that any proposal to change the government or prime minister should be brought to the Dewan Rakyat for discussion, similar to bringing a motion of no confidence against the prime minister.
“Currently, certain parties are using the statutory declaration or SD method, even though we have the parliamentary system for MPs to state whether they still have confidence in the prime minister or otherwise.
“Supports should be expressed through a vote of confidence in the Dewan Rakyat and not solely based on SD. This needs to be emphasised to any political party, especially the opposition,” he said.
According to Azman Awang, the trend of using the SD could be seen in several series of political crises when the federal government changed twice within one parliamentary term.
The political turmoil from 2020 to 2022 witnessed the change of three prime ministers and two governments before Parliament was dissolved to pave the way for the 15th general election (GE15) on Nov 19, 2022.
However, another deadlock occurred when GE15 ended in a hung parliament with no party securing a clear majority to form the new federal government.
Commenting on the current political developments, Azmi said that the opposition bloc should play a role of check and balance to the government’s policies rather than focus on taking over the administration.
“Even though five opposition MPs had declared their support for the leadership of Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim), they should have stopped playing up (political sentiments). They want to portray the perception that they are strong when, in reality, they know they do not have the numbers,” he said. – BERNAMA
