ELECTORAL reform group the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) believes a coalition government should be formed via party-to-party negotiations instead of through statutory declaration (SD) collections.
In a statement, Bersih’s steering committee said it takes exception to Dewan Rakyat speaker Tan Sri Azhar Azizan Harun’s call yesterday (Nov 20) for party leaders to name an MP from their coalition to be Malaysia’s 10th prime minister (PM) through SDs.
This is as per Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah’s decree that all heads of political parties and coalitions who have the most number of federal seats must inform the National Palace by 2pm today about any pacts they have made to form a government, as well as their PM candidates.
“The speaker should know that the use of SDs for the formation of a government has been proven to be a failure again and again, contributing to much instability over the years,” said Bersih, referring to the repeated use of SDs to nominate a PM candidate after the Sheraton Move of 2020.
“A parliamentary government is a government based on a common governance programme, not a bunch of individual MPs supporting a common PM candidate, whether or not in exchange for positions,” the vocal NGO added.
Stopping short of blaming anyone in particular, Bersih further said it was “unreasonable” that party leaders are “rushed” into “deals” before all their MPs have the chance to deliberate and be heard, saying no timeline should be set for this important process.
The most important goal in this process, they explained, is to ensure that a sustainable and stable government can be formed.
“This can only be achieved through a carefully negotiated agreement between the parties and it should not be hastily rushed through using SDs.”
“Emulate previous MOU”
Moving forward, Bersih said the signing of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s Government with Pakatan Harapan (PH) in September 2021 – which restored political stability – should be emulated in the current situation.
Enough time should be given to all parties, they added, as it is “better to be slow and steady in establishing a stable government” rather than “rushing and risking sending our nation into endless political machinations over the next few years.”
“Malaysia badly needs a functioning government to prevail over the triple crises of economy, environment and (COVID-19) endemic, not plagued by intense infighting between government partners,” said Bersih.
“All quarters should always act prudently and responsibly to protect our parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy.”
Parliament is currently hung as no single political party or coalition won a simple majority during Saturday’s (Nov 19) polls, leading to intense political horse-trading to be the first to form a coalition government.
The rumour mill has gone into overdrive following a statement by Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi last night saying the coalition has not joined forces with Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), Perikatan Nasional (PN) and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) to wrest over Putrajaya, as GPS claimed yesterday evening.
As nothing is impossible in politics, it is possible that BN may work with long-time political rivals PH to form a coalition government of sorts – after all, PH chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim maintains he still has the numbers to form a majority government (despite not getting GRS or PN’s support), and only BN has wrested enough seats to make a difference.
Without BN, the GPS-PN-GRS bloc only has 101 seats in the Dewan Rakyat, while a BN-PH bloc will see the support of 112 soon-to-be-sworn-in-MPs, the exact number for a simple majority. – Nov 21, 2022
Main photo credit: Bernama
