Details of Malaysia's bipartisan deal
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The Malaysian government led by Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and the main opposition Pakatan Harapan bloc led by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim inked a historic bipartisan agreement on Monday.
Here are its main points:
MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING
1 The government will not propose the dissolution of Parliament before July 31 next year.
2 The government will do its best to fulfil each transformation proposal within the timeframe agreed by both sides.
3 To reciprocate, PH agrees to:
- support or abstain in Parliament in the vote on Budget 2022 (to be unveiled on Oct 29), after mutual agreement on its content.
- support or abstain in any government proposal or Bill, where failure for it to pass will be seen as a form of no-confidence vote on the government. The proposal or Bill will first have to be agreed by the government and PH.
4 Both sides agree that the deal does not prevent PH from playing its check-and-balance role.
GOVERNMENT STEPS
The following are steps the government agreed to undertake.
1 Transforming the Administration
- introduce a Bill to prevent MPs from hopping to another party.
- hasten introduction of Bill to reduce voting age from 21 to 18, and allowing automatic voter registration.
- limiting the term of the prime minister to 10 years. (All three must be fulfilled not later than the first parliamentary sitting next year).
2 Independence of the Judiciary
Judges must always be free from any interference.
3 Malaysia Agreement of 1963
All matters related to this, in which Sabah and Sarawak have equal status to Peninsular Malaysia, must be fulfilled.
4 Strengthening Covid-19 Plan
Matters covered here include having an additional outlay of RM45 billion (S$14.6 billion) for Covid-19 funds, taking the total to RM110 billion, and quicker purchase of six million extra vaccine doses.
(All must be fulfilled before the end of this year)
5 Parliamentary reform
Matters here include giving equal allocations to all government and opposition MPs.
Sources: MALAYSIAN GOVERNMENT, PAKATAN HARAPAN