Wan Junaidi says he will bring up term limit for PM in cabinet meeting

 

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Parliament) Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar has pledged to raise in the cabinet the proposal to limit the prime minister’s tenure to 10 years.

The Santubong MP said the proposal to set a two-term limit for the premiership had been put on hold so that the government could focus on the anti-hopping law, which was passed this week.

“It has not been dropped. But the cabinet decided to put it on hold for the time being until engagements with all the political parties are completed.

“Since we were concentrating on the anti-hopping law at that time, the issue (term limit for PM) was not in my scope of work.

“I will raise the issue in the cabinet meeting,” he said when contacted.

Wan Junaidi acknowledged there were people asking him about the constitutional amendment on the PM’s tenure.

In a statement yesterday, Pakatan Harapan instructed its representatives in the steering committee of the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed with Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s administration to discuss the unfulfilled terms of the MOU.

The unfulfilled terms included limiting the PM’s tenure, reinstating the Parliamentary Services Act, and amendments to the parliamentary Standing Orders to ensure proceedings would be carried out more systematically and smoothly.

Last month, Wan Junaidi told Malaysiakini that the bill to limit the PM's tenure was ready to be tabled.

The term of office for the prime minister was among the slew of governance reforms initiated by the Pakatan Harapan government. The bill was first tabled in December 2019.

The Harapan government sought to amend Clause 2(a) of Article 43 of the Federal Constitution to ensure that a prime minister could not serve for more than two terms of office.

In August 2020, the Perikatan Nasional government withdrew Harapan’s bill to set a two-term limit for the prime minister’s post. - Mkini