SHAH ALAM, March 20 — Opposition lawmaker Lim Guan Eng wants the government to clarify if it will be amending the Federal Constitution to enable the creation of a new law other than the much-touted anti-party hopping Bill, which has been put on hold.
The Bagan MP told reporters here today that the Order Paper for tomorrow’s Dewan Rakyat debates listed a Constitutional Amendment Bill that is to be tabled for the first reading.
He indicated that there seems to be some confusion on the government’s intention to amend the Constitution and a statement made by Parliament and Law Minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.
“We want to get some clarification. There is some confusion in the statement made by Wan Junaidi, that the constitutional amendment is different, but then there is in the Order Paper on Monday which states that the Constitution Amendment Bill will be tabled for the first reading tomorrow.
“So we want to know what constitutional amendment is this,” Lim told a press conference after the morning session of the 17th DAP annual congress here.
In his opening speech earlier, Lim highlighted that the anti-party hopping Bill was one of the agreements made between the Pakatan Harapan (PH) Opposition coalition and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob in a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for a political ceasefire to focus on addressing the Covid-19 health and economic crises last year.
The agreement was for the Bill to be passed by March this year.
Lim explained that the anti-party hopping Bill was the only new law that the PH coalition knows that requires an amendment to the Federal Constitution.
The former finance minister added that any amendment made to the Federal Constitution must be discussed with the Opposition, as stated in the MoU.
“As far as we know, the only Constitutional amendment that was discussed with us is the anti-party hopping law.
“And the government is required to discuss with the Opposition regarding the constitutional amendments, for two reasons — one, it’s stated in the MoU that they have to discuss with us; and two they don’t have two-thirds majority.
“So without our support, you cannot get any constitution amendment passed,” Lim said.
He added that if the anti-party hopping Bill is not passed in Parliament, “then I think it’s the end of the MoU”.
Wan Junaidi said in a statement last Friday that the government is postponing the anti-party hopping Bill and its plan to limit the prime minister’s tenure to two-terms.
The two proposed Bills were initially scheduled to be tabled in the current Dewan Rakyat sitting ending March 24.
In his statement, Wan Junaidi said the decision was made after the Cabinet determined that more input was needed from stakeholders, “particularly” Barisan Nasional (BN) and Perikatan Nasional (PN).
Lim said PH would be fine to extend the current parliament sitting if that was what it took to pass the anti-party hopping Bill.
“If you want to extend Parliament to pass it I think it’s OK, as long as the Bill is passed,” he said.
