Parliamentary reform supersedes individual and party agendas, say groups
Political and parliamentary transformations are larger than party agendas, said a coalition of civil society groups in reaction to a Confidence and Supply agreement (CSA) signed by top political leaders.
The Seed Community for Professional Parliament called for stronger structures and procedures to future-proof institutions such as Parliament from executive dominance.
"(This is also) to enable the independent exercise of...
Political and parliamentary transformations are larger than party agendas, said a coalition of civil society groups in reaction to a Confidence and Supply agreement (CSA) signed by top political leaders.
The Seed Community for Professional Parliament called for stronger structures and procedures to future-proof institutions such as Parliament from executive dominance.
"(This is also) to enable the independent exercise of its legislative and oversight functions.
“This inflexion point of political and parliamentary transformation is larger than the individual interests of Perikatan Nasional, Umno or Pakatan Harapan,” it said in a statement today.
It called on the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Steering Committee to meet with civil society groups on ways to strengthen the deal and increase its chances of success.
The statement was signed by various civil society organisations and think tanks including Bersih, Engage, Undi18, Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas), Bait Al-Amanah and Institute for Political Reform and Democracy (Reform).
The statement follows the CSA - dubbed the Memorandum of Understanding on Transformation and Political Stability - which was signed between Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and top Harapan figures in Parliament yesterday.
Ismail Sabri said the deal would cover the strengthening of the Covid-19 plan, governance transformation, parliamentary reforms, measures to ensure judicial independence, the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and the formation of a steering committee.
These topics appear to be an extension of seven reforms promised by the prime minister on Sept 10. His statement did not detail what was expected of the opposition.
'Missing commitments' in MOU
The Seed Community claimed that while the newly inked memorandum was a positive development after the country’s year-long political turmoil, reforms should not be treated as transactional tools for political survival, but as “essential prerequisites for a healthy, sustainable democracy”.
Missing “commitments” in the MOU highlighted by the group include promises such as:
Codifying procedures for enabling issues of confidence in the Dewan Rakyat
Empowering Parliament’s and MP’s roles in lawmaking, especially for opposition and backbench MPs
Setting up a parliamentary caucus to oversee reforms
Empowering the public to petition Parliament
Enacting a Constituency Development Fund (CDF) Act ensuring equal and consistent allocation to all MPs
“Our institutions have long lacked the parliamentary tools and mechanisms to push through political and parliamentary reforms that are found in other parliamentary democracies.
“This lack has allowed dominant governments in the past to suppress democratic strengthening, even when the rakyat have been the driving force for change,” it added.
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