KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 — The first year in power for any new government is the most vital as it sets the tone for the administration’s commitment towards political change and reforms, said Nurul Izzah Anwar today.
“We have to understand the first year in any transition of power is a very important year.
“That is the year that we can see their political commitment to make sure changes actually happen,” said the Permatang Pauh MP when asked for her view on the reforms undertaken by the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration
She was speaking to reporters after the launch of six books published by Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (Abim) at the Putra World Trade Centre today.
Among the six included one titled Anwar Ibrahim: Semangat Darah Muda, a memoir of reform aspirations published by Abim in collaboration with Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Nurul Izzah and her opinions on reforms have made headlines the past week, after she announced her resignation from all government and political party positions, citing her dissatisfaction at the sluggish pace of reforms as one of her reasons.
Nurul Izzah had said she would also not seek re-election at the next general elections.
She also caused another stir last week when she labelled Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad a ‘former dictator’ during an interview with a Singaporean daily, later defending her position as saying the moniker given to the nonagenarian was factually correct.
Nurul Izzah today also touched on her fight for prison reforms, saying those within the entire institution, including the incarcerated, wardens, and the labour that goes into maintaining the prisons must always be championed.
She said dialogues between her and the affected agencies had agreed that financial allocation for the prison systems must not be solely to sustain inmates and those working there, but should instead be spent on making the rehabilitation system more effective.
“The agencies have shared their ideas with me that allocations should not be used to sustain more and more inmates in jails.
“It is to make sure the inmates are more effective to be absorbed back into the society and given a second chance in line with their levels of preparations towards rehabilitation,” she said.
She added that the Malaysian Prisons Department was also working behind the scenes and scrambling to achieve their goal of moving as much as 75 per cent of non-violent inmates into community and interactive rehabilitation programmes come 2030.
