MARCH 21 — On December 3, 2019, the Constitutional (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2009 was tabled by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Liew Vui Keong in the Dewan Rakyat for its first reading.
The Bill sought to amend Article 43(2) of the Federal Constitution by substituting for paragraph (a) the following paragraph:
(a) the Yang di-Pertuan Agong shall first appoint as Perdana Menteri (Prime Minister) to preside over the Cabinet a member of the House of Representatives —
(i) who in his judgment is likely to command the confidence of the majority of the members of that House; and
(ii) who has not at any time held the office of Prime Minister for two terms of Parliament.
The Explanatory Statement to the Bill explained the above paragraph as seeking “to provide for additional criteria in relation to the qualification of a member of the House of Representatives to be appointed as Prime Minister.”
Through the proposed amendment, “a member of the House of Representatives shall not be appointed Prime Minister if he has held the office of Prime Minister for two terms of Parliament.”
The Bill (DR 42/2019) is available on the official website of Parliament.
The government then was the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government with Dr Mahathir Mohamad the prime minister for the second time.
Eight months later on August 26, 2020, the Bill was withdrawn by Takiyuddin Hassan who succeeded Liew. The withdrawal was made under Clause 62 of the Dewan Rakyat Standing Orders.
The government then was the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government with Muhyiddin Yassin the prime minister.
A year later on August 13, 2021, Muhyiddin said he would table two Bills in Parliament should the government manage to get more than two-thirds bipartisan support from the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara.
One of the Bills would introduce a two-term limit for a prime minister. He announced this in a special televised address.
Three days later on August 16, 2021, Muhyiddin resigned as prime minister together with his Cabinet.
Four years on, on Sunday (March 16), DAP Secretary General Anthony Loke, who is also Minister of Transport, said it would like the federal government to amend the Federal Constitution to limit the prime minister’s tenure to a maximum of 10 years.
He said it at the DAP’s 18th national congress.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim responded to Loke’s hope by saying he agreed that a Malaysian prime minister’s term should be capped at a maximum of 10 years, but that he still needed to get the support of two-thirds of MPs to amend the Federal Constitution.
The next day on March 17, PAS Youth chief Afnan Hamimi Taib Azamudden responded to DAP’s push for a prime minister term limit with a racially charged response. Instead of seeing it as a democratic reform, Afnan viewed it as an attempt by the “minority” to dictate the “majority” by dismantling the Federal Constitution.
Later in the day, PAS assistant secretary-general 3 Syahir Sulaiman indicated the party’s willingness to discuss limiting the prime minister’s tenure, but with a condition: only a Muslim could hold the position.
Shortly earlier, Anwar had urged Opposition leaders to engage in a healthy debate when discussing the plan to limit the prime minister’s tenure to two terms. According to Anwar’s senior press secretary Tunku Nashrul Abaidah, the prime minister wished to remind them not to turn the well-intended reform into a shallow racial issue.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said he agreed that a Malaysian prime minister’s term should be capped at a maximum of 10 years. Picture by Yusof Mat Isa
Two days later on March 19, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang took a swipe at DAP over its suggestion to limit the prime minister’s term to 10 years, saying “it goes against God’s will”.
A few hours later, Anwar instructed the Cabinet to study a proposal to limit the prime minister’s time in office to only two terms. According to government spokesperson Fahmi Fadzil, the prime minister conveyed the order at the Cabinet meeting.
Another study? The PH cabinet in 2019 could not have proceeded with the Bill (DR 42/2019) without a study.
The next day (March 20) Dr Mahathir expressed his disagreement with the proposal to limit the prime minister’s time in office to only two terms.
Dr Mahathir, who served as prime minister from 1981 to 2003 and again from 2018 to 2020, and who was the prime minister when the Bill (DR 42/2019) to provide for a two-terms limit was introduced in Parliament on December 3, 2019, said a decade “is not enough to implement successful progress”.
So, there you have it – a short story of a two-term limit for the prime minister in Malaysia.
Who needs a long story when there are enough twists and turns in the short story.
* This is the personal opinion of the writers or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
