JANUARY 16 — Recently there has been much debate on whether Bersatu’s decision to accept former Umno MPs was the right thing to do.
Have you wondered why is it that these Umno MPs never go knocking on PKR’s door” Well, that is a discussion for a different day.
As it stands, it would seem that the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition government has 134 parliamentary seats, needing only another 14 seats to get the two-thirds majority (148 seats) required to make constitutional amendments to our Federal Constitution.
Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution needs to be amended if Sabah and Sarawak are to be considered as equal partners with Peninsular Malaysia, and no more as states of the federation.
Article 125(1) of the Federal Constitution needs to be amended if the retirement age of a Federal Court judge is to be raised from 66 years until, say 70 years, or even later.
Article 145(3) of the Federal Constitution needs to be amended if the Attorney General is to be no longer associated with the initiation of criminal proceedings for criminal offences but confined to advising the Yang di-Pertuan Agong or the Cabinet or any minister on legal matters.
The Judicial Appointments Commission was set up under the Judicial Appointments Commission Act 2009 (JAC Act) to assist the prime minister in advising the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on the appointment of judges of the superior courts and judicial commissioners, including the appointments of the Chief Justice, the President of the Court of Appeal and the Chief Judges of the two High Courts.
The commission selects and recommends to the prime minister people who are qualified for appointment. However, the JAC Act is only an Act of Parliament and does not have a constitutional footing, and it looks like there is a need to amend the Federal Constitution to include this.
There is also a need to limit the tenure of a Prime Minister to two terms, and for this there is a need for an amendment to the Federal Constitution.
These are but a few of the amendments to the Federal Constitution. The real experts and reformists would certainly add to this list.
But the point here is that in order for all these amendments to be made, the PH government needs 148 votes in the Dewan Rakyat.
Yes, it would now seem that MPs from the current Opposition are not in the good books of many Malaysians, but they are MPs nevertheless. The practical political reality is that in order to reach the 148-mark, it must surely come from the Opposition. Hate them. Loath them. Whatever. It doesn’t matter. Their vote counts in the Dewan Rakyat at the end of the day.
Our prime minister is getting older. He is trying his best to get things done as fast as possible. The good thing here, as I see it, is that the other coalition parties of PH would check on these former Umno MPs and keep them in place.
The bigger picture here is the importance of constitutional amendments.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
