Bersih supports Dr M-led gov’t but with certain conditions

Bersih has said they will support a government led by Dr Mahathir Mohamad but with certain expectations attached.

After a meeting amongst NGOs this morning, Bersih said the people’s mandate in the GE14 must be respected in the formation of the next government for the remaining term.

“First, it has to be a Pakatan Harapan government based on the Buku Harapan manifesto as this was the people’s mandate in GE14.

“It may also be a Harapan plus government with new members, parties or individual parliamentarians, but the new members must commit themselves to the Buku Harapan,” said Bersih chairperson Thomas Fann in a press conference at the Bersih office in Petaling Jaya today.

The second expectation, he said, is that the transition plan must be made clear as they believe all the current political turmoil was due to a lack of clarity in the transition plan.

Bersih urged Mahathir to commit to ending his prime ministership within two weeks after the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in November.

“To minimise uncertainty, his successor should be made the deputy prime minister and the person should be Anwar Ibrahim, the eighth prime minister promised by Harapan in GE14, or any other candidate agreed by Harapan’s presidential council,” Fann said.

Thirdly, he said, there must be substantial reforms in the electoral and wider political system to promote responsible and healthy party politics.

For example, there should be a term limit for the prime minister and a de-concentration of the prime minister’s power.

The parliament should also be strengthened along with creating a level playing field in the GE15 for all parties to contest, he said.

Fann also suggested that there should be measures to promote the government’s viability and curb party-crossing.

The “reconfigured” Harapan government must, most importantly, recognise its weakness in implementing their reform agenda thus far, he said.

It must focus on three aspects in its remaining term, he said, that is to manage the economy in the wake of the novel coronavirus outbreak and the ongoing US-China trade war as well as deepen institutional reforms to affirm the rule of law, good governance and human rights.

Lastly, the government must improve communal relations and reduce anxiety and insecurity felt by the Malay-Muslims as well as other communities throughout Malaysia.

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