KUALA LUMPUR, April 13 — Electoral watchdog Bersih has today urged Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s coalition federal government to speed up some of the political reforms it had promised or risk further turmoil and instability in government.
It said that since the 15th general elections (GE15) concluded last year, only the anti-hopping law has been implemented while the rest such as on political financing and fair allocation of resources have yet to manifest themselves.
“Apart from the anti-hopping Bill, the political situation is pretty much status quo following GE14. Which means there’s the possibility that this government may not last long.
“That’s why we see political manoeuvring like those trying to get Najib pardoned and charges against our deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi dropped,” its chairman Thomas Fann said, referring to convict former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
“These are all speculations however and behind-the-scenes manoeuvres. What we’re calling for is that this government put into place reforms that not only bring about political stability but also for these reforms to be in place,” Fann added after launching Bersih’s annual report here.
Bersih said the first thing the government should do is give equal rights to the back benchers and Opposition party MPs in Parliament. They want them to play a bigger and more active role, so that their roles are more meaningful.
Fann said this would take away some pressure for a change of government since the back benchers and Opposition feel their voices are heard in Parliament.
"This would give them less chances to be impatient. Simple things like the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) which are low hanging fruits. It is the discretion of the prime minister's right and he should use it to give it (CDF) to the opposition so they have the resources needed to serve the people who elected them.
"People think CDF is a blank cheque but no there are built in checks and balances and this issue of implementation does not arise as every allocation they want to give out must be approved first. This would strengthen the stability of the government and is in line with the Malaysia Madani and goodwill," said Fann.
Prior to this, Bersih criticised the absence of equal constituency development funds (CDF) for all MPs in Budget 2023, which was promised in the Pakatan Harapan election manifesto.
The group’s steering committee said it was regretful that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim spurned the opportunity to demonstrate his reformist credentials and showcase the ideals of his Malaysia Madani concept.
