IN the quest to make the Parliamentary meeting in a fortnight’s time “the most memorable one in Malaysian history”, retired DAP surpremo Lim Kit Siang has called for the tabling of reports by the Council of Eminent Persons (CEP), the Institutional Reforms Committee (IRC) and the Electoral Reform Committee (ERC) as White Papers.
To re-cap, those committees were set up in 2018 during the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration under former prime minister (PM) Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to hear the views of various civil society groups on strengthening the system of governance and the rule of law.
“As far as I know, the Reports of the CEP, IRC and ERC were never tabled in the PH government cabinet although they were completed and submitted to the then PM before the PH government was toppled by the infamous Sheraton Move political conspiracy in February 2020,” the 81-year-old veteran lawmaker pointed out.
“Why should there be such secrecy on matters of clear public interest with regard to the hundreds of recommendations related to governance, integrity and corruption prevention in the CEP report?”
Added Kit Siang: “I reiterate my call in October 2019 and again propose that the CEP, IRC and ERC Reports should be presented to the Feb 13 Parliament as White Papers to allow parliamentarians and the public the opportunity to debate their merits or demerits.”
Elsewhere, the former Iskandar Puteri MP has four other proposals “to kickstart the February/March 2023 Parliament meeting”:
- Table Bills to limit the term and power of the PM; to separate the office of the Attorney-General (AG) and the public prosecutor and to restore the Parliamentary Services Act on the dignity and independence of Parliament;
- To uphold the doctrine of separation of powers and introduce a Bill to amend the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) Act to ensure that the appointment of judges – including the Chief Justice and major judicial appointments – is free from the influence of the PM and reflect diversity and inclusivity;
- Increase of parliamentary sitting days from 71 for 2023 to a minimum of 100 days per year so that all needed legislative reforms could be carried out and that there would be an active parliamentary select committee (PSC) system to provide an effective check and balance on the Executive; and
- Devise a Malaysian Integrity Plan to lay out a Charter for Malaysia to become one of the top nations in the world in public integrity and not to lose out to one after another nation on the anti-corruption front. – Jan 31, 2023
