KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 10 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob today announced seven vows dubbed the Parliamentary and Government Administration Transformation Offer.
He said the Cabinet agreed to table several laws which also include those restricting MPs from switching party allegiance and to limit the term of a prime minister to 10 years, in addition to amending the Constitution to allow 18-year-olds to vote — dubbed Undi18.
The Cabinet also agreed that the Opposition Leader will receive the same emolument and resources as a minister.
The offers seem to mirror the proposals by Ismail Sabri’s predecessor Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as an olive branch to the Opposition in August ahead of a vote of confidence motion in Parliament, before he later resigned as prime minister.
The three other commitments announced by Ismail Sabri were: equal number of Opposition members in Parliamentary Select Committees, bipartisan negotiation on Bills, and Opposition members being involved in the National Recovery Council (MPN).
Ismail Sabri said the government transformation programme espouses noble values and consensus across various religious, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds under a Malaysian Family — a concept mooted by his administration.
“This is also in line with the spirit to continue to uphold the Federal Constitution as the supreme law that is the core of community and national life,” he said.
Last week, five Malaysian youths who took the government and the Election Commission (EC) to court for delaying lowering the voting age to 18, had won.
The High Court in Kuching, Sarawak ruled that the government and EC must take steps to implement Undi18 by the end of this year, to enable Malaysians aged 18 to vote in the next elections instead of waiting until they turn 21.
In March 2021, the EC had said that its records showed that there are currently 1.2 million Malaysians aged 18 to 20.
