Govt, Opposition agree in principle on anti-hopping law and PM term limit

KUALA LUMPUR: The government and members of the Opposition have agreed in principle to proposals to introduce an anti-party-hopping law and limit the tenure of the prime minister to not more than 10 years, says Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.

The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department said a series of meetings was held with Opposition party leaders who were presented with research findings on these initiatives.

"The leaders now have two weeks to scrutinise the proposals and revert with any suggestions, amendments or feedback before it goes to the next stage of the process," he said.

“The next phase would be to work with the Attorney General’s Chambers to formulate the law,” added Wan Junaidi in a statement on Friday (Dec 24).

In August last year, the government withdrew the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) Bill and the Constitution (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2019 to limit the tenure of a prime minister to only two terms.

Both Bills were scheduled for second and third reading but were withdrawn to allow further amendments.

Wan Junaidi said the bipartisan initiative was groundbreaking and marked the first time that the Opposition had sat down with the government to achieve a common goal on these matters.

Wan Junaidi said the progress so far bodes well for the nation, and in the long run would restore the confidence of the people in the system of governance.

“It shows that we are on the right track, and that we can set aside our differences, and work together towards a common objective,” he said.

This comes after the government successfully passed the amendments to the Federal Constitution related to the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) in the Dewan Rakyat recently.

Wan Junaidi further noted that these initiatives were part of the broader government transformation agenda, underpinned by four main thrusts, among others, to: introduce the anti-party-hopping law; limit the prime minister's tenure; and implement Undi18 and automatic voter registration.