Wanita MCA wants PM to ditch finance role, not just limit term

Summary

• MCA’s women’s wing information chief Chan Quin Er supports Anwar Ibrahim’s pledge to limit the prime minister’s tenure to 10 years but urges him to relinquish the finance minister role, citing concerns over excessive power concentration.

• She says the prime minister should focus on leading reforms while an experienced finance minister handles economic policies.

Wanita MCA has welcomed Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s commitment to fulfil his coalition’s campaign promise to limit the prime minister’s tenure to 10 years in office.

However, its information chief Chan Quin Er said Anwar should go a step further by relinquishing the finance portfolio, which Anwar also holds.

“In the past, Pakatan Harapan voiced strong objection against the prime minister simultaneously wielding the finance minister’s role.

“They argued that these combined roles concentrated too much power in one person and undermined the separation of the executive and financial authority,” Chan recounted in a statement today.

He also noted that since Najib Abdul Razak’s administration, no prime minister who came afterwards concurrently held both the premiership and the finance portfolio until Anwar took over in 2022.

“Pakatan Harapan, despite championing reform, has now broken with tradition by allowing the prime minister to also serve as finance minister.

“This move undermines previous progress and reforms,” she said.

Chan said Anwar should focus on his role as prime minister in leading the cabinet to implement government policies and institutional reforms, while the Finance Ministry should be led by someone with the requisite knowledge and experience in finance and the economy.

Anwar agrees to PM term limit

The issue of implementing a term limit for the prime minister’s office was raised during yesterday’s National DAP Congress, where the party’s secretary-general Anthony Loke listed it as among several promised reforms that should be implemented but have yet to be fulfilled.

Anwar, who attended the congress, said he agrees.

“I agree to some (reform) suggestions. To limit the prime minister to 10 years in office.

“Because we know if it reaches 22 years, that will destroy the country,” he said.

Imposing a 10-year term limit for the office of prime minister, chief minister, and menteri besar is among Pakatan Harapan’s election manifesto promises during the 2022 general election.

In the 2018 election, Harapan also pledged that the prime minister would not hold another portfolio concurrently. However, this was not promised in the 2022 manifesto.

In justifying concurrently holding the finance portfolio, Anwar told reporters in 2022 that he had done so to implement policies that would foster investor confidence.

Meanwhile, in welcoming Anwar’s commitment to implementing a term limit, Chan hailed it as an important measure for promoting democratic reforms, even though it was only raised three years after coming into power.

“It also helps prevent issues such as hegemony, cronyism, and nepotism that can arise from prolonged rule by one individual, while enhancing the integrity and image of the government,” she said.

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