Set clear transition date and plan - Bersih & Co tell PM in open letter

A coalition of NGOs led by Bersih has urged Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad to announce a clear date and plan for transitioning the premiership to Anwar Ibrahim.

In an open letter published today, they expressed concern over the ongoing political feud within PKR and wider political instability in the country.

“If political stability is not restored, the reform agenda of the Pakatan Harapan government would come to a stall, or worse, whatever achieved so far would be reversed.

“[...] We call on the leadership of the Harapan government - Mahathir, the presidential council of Harapan and Warisan - to take decisive actions without delay to restore the people's confidence in this government.

“A clear message must be sent by all that the welfare of the nation and the reform agenda takes precedence over personal or party interests,” it said, stressing that its interests were non-partisan.

They thus proposed a five-step “package” as a guide for the transition.

The letter was signed by Bersih, Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (Abim) and Gabungan Bertindak Malaysia (GBM).

GBM comprises 14 NGOs including Tamil Foundation, Tindak Malaysia, Pusat Komas, Suaram, Engage, Umany, Pacos, Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall, MyPJ, Merdeka U Bhd, Monsoons Malaysia, KAMI, LLG and UCSAAM.

Below is the letter in full:

The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih), together with Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (Abim) and Gabungan Bertindak Malaysia (GBM), hereby calls on Prime Minister Dr Mahathir and the leadership of Pakatan Harapan to take clear and decisive steps to bring about political stability in this country by putting in place a clear transition package based on their Harapan pre-GE14 agreement.

The current feud in PKR, a major component party of the Harapan coalition, is causing much concern among both our citizens and the international community as it has the potential to break up the coalition and cast our nation into political disarray.

Our concern, as civil society organisations that have been and are pushing for institutional and political reforms in this country, is that if political stability is not restored, the reform agenda of the Harapan government would come to a stall, or worse, whatever has been achieved so far would be reversed.

As non-partisan civil society groups, our concern is strictly limited to political stability and accountability within the term of the 14th Parliament, indicating no whatsoever preference in the 15th general election (GE15).

As such, we would like to propose the following concrete steps to be taken in order to restore political stability.

Clear transition plan for prime ministership

We call on Mahathir to set a date, somewhere between a year from now to latest May 9 2021, to hand over power to Anwar Ibrahim, in accordance with the pre-GE14 agreement among the Harapan component parties. Though it was said that no time frame was stated in the agreement, Mahathir himself has said on numerous occasions it would be between two to three years from Harapan forming the government. To ensure a smooth transition, Anwar should be appointed deputy PM six months before the set date. With a clear and publicly known transition plan, it would quash rumours and conspiracy theories perpetrated by those who seek to gain from the instability and see the breakup of the coalition.

Limit the PM to two terms

This is a manifesto promise that is yet to be fulfilled and we would urge Mahathir to push for the necessary legal amendments to fulfil it before he steps down as the PM. The rationale to set such a term limit is that we do not want to see future PMs holding power for too long, which not only risks abuses of power and corruption, but also builds up frustration and antagonism of other aspirants for the top job. Unless the first term which does not start with a new Parliament is less than two years, the term of a PM should start from the time of appointment and not at the start of a new Parliament term to ensure that the maximum terms permissible is kept to two terms.

Deconcentration of power in PM

The Harapan manifesto also promised to reduce the concentration of executive power in the hands of the PM. The gross abuses of power by the previous PM has highlighted the fact that too much power is vested in the office of the PM. Unless laws are amended and the Parliament is adequately empowered, especially in the process of major appointments, there is no guarantee that future PMs would not use such power to cling on to the top job by trading patronage for loyalty from fellow leaders and the voters, causing kleptocracy to rear its ugly head again. A flatter power structure with PM's term limit will make peace and stability easier amongst ambitious politicians by creating more chances and entry points for advancement in their political career.

Hasten institutional reforms

Another set of manifesto promises that needs to be implemented without delay are those that call for the strengthening of our key public institutions like the Election Commission, MACC, Judicial Appointments Commission, National Audit Department, Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) and Attorney-General's Chambers. Legal amendments are required to institutionalise the independence and empowerment of these institutions so that they can be effective checks and balances in our system of government. Draconian laws that violate our fundamental rights under Article 10 of the Federal Constitution should be repealed, and laws against racism, bigotry and gender bias should also be reviewed to either be amended or enacted where necessary.

Change to a more inclusive electoral system

Our current first-past-the-post (FPTP) electoral system coupled with our multi-ethnic society encourages a winner takes all mentality among our political parties, producing political discourses that are extreme and divisive. We urge the government and all parties to embark on a national conversation about moving away from FPTP towards a system with party-list proportional representation (List-PR) seats. This will ensure a wide representation of parties in the Parliament and eliminate their need to play up communal fear over internal division to mobilise votes. The List-PR seats can also overcome intra-coalition quarrel over constituency allocation so common under FPTP by allowing component parties to compete openly and healthily against each other via party votes, instead of resorting to sabotage and scheming. Not only List-PR seats can enable quotas for women and other marginalised groups, the direct mandate for parties instead of candidates can also strengthen political parties and discourage party hopping. This would be in keeping with Harapan’s aspiration to build a more inclusive, progressive and prosperous nation.

We call on the leadership of the Harapan government - Mahathir, the presidential council of Harapan and Warisan - to take decisive actions without delay to restore the people's confidence in this government. A clear message must be sent by all that the welfare of the nation and the reform agenda takes precedence over personal or party interests.

Harapan has nearly four years of its remaining term to deliver its promise of reforms and prosperity for this nation.

Restore political stability and govern now for the remainder of its term. - Mkini