PH won’t last full term, it’s a world trend, says Annuar Musa

The Kelantan MP from BN cites the experience of India's Janata Party.

DEWAN RAKYAT

Annuar Musa predicts Pakatan Harapan’s fall before its five-year mandate ends. (Youtube screengrab)

KUALA LUMPUR: Barisan Nasional’s Annuar Musa today predicted that the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government would not last its current term, saying this has been the trend in countries where long-time ruling parties have been brought down in elections.

The Ketereh MP cited the example of the Janata Party in India, which fell apart three years after its historic win against the Congress Party in 1977.

“Will the PH government suffer the same fate? We don’t know how long it can last, but I’m predicting that they would not be able to finish the term and we will see a change in government,” Annuar said when debating the royal address in the Dewan Rakyat today.

He said the PH government had not been living up to its promises, adding that Malaysians were watching how the coalition was fumbling.

He said the current government was not respecting the rule of law, saying it was beholden to decisions by the Council of Eminent Persons (CEP), Putrajaya’s top advisory council led by former finance minister Daim Zainuddin.

“The CEP looks as if it has more powers than the ministers themselves.

“How is it that CEP members were allowed to summon judges to face them and senior ministers had to meet them at its office?” he said, in an apparent reference to a report by Singapore’s Straits Times over grumblings that Daim had been calling the shots in Putrajaya.

“This is not a healthy practice. The elected reps and ministers should trust in their own capabilities.

“It also sets a bad precedent when CEP members themselves do not have an absolute clean record.”

Besides Daim, the CEP comprises Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Hassan Marican, Robert Kuok and Jomo Kwame Sundaram.

Saying CEP’s wide powers were “an insult” to the Cabinet, Annuar said PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim had also questioned CEP members’ credibility.

“Therefore, we recommend dissolving the CEP,” he said. - FMT