'Vote according to conscience'

KUALA LUMPUR: MPs should vote according to their conscience in the Dewan Rakyat, not based on their parties’ ideologies.

This will be the clarion call of Global Movement of Moderates Foundation (GMMF) chief executive officer Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah and Parit Buntar MP Datuk Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa in their upcoming book, New Politics.

In the book to be released by year-end, the Umno-PAS duo will deliberate on the need for extreme partisanship in local politics to be replaced with bipartisanship and moderation.

“We hope to change the local political climate to a more mature one,” Saifuddin said at a press conference here yesterday.

“We must start considering bipartisan politics for the good of Malay­sia,” he said.

Also present at the conference was Dr Mujahid and Zubedy (M) Sdn Bhd managing director Anas Zubedy, whose company will publish the book.

Saifuddin, the former Temerloh MP, noted that the present political climate strongly encouraged MPs to vote on issues according to their political parties’ stance.

“My dream is to see our MPs vote on an issue according to their conscience, since that is the real new politics,” he said.

Dr Mujahid, a PAS central committee member, echoed the view, saying that the time had come when issues were supported on merit and not party ideology.

Saifuddin and Dr Mujahid proposed a parliamentary select committee be formed to look into the drafts of the “Harmony Bills” by the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) as an example of bipartisan politics.

Anas said the book was meant to encourage more Malaysians to think beyond partisan politics.

He lauded the two politicians for setting aside their opposing political alignments and taking the risk to lead a discussion on bipartisan politics.

Anas said the public could email questions to [e-mail] on a wide range of issues affecting the local political scene, which would be answered in a Q&A format in the book.