PM's term limit - decision to withdraw bill unanimous, says Saifuddin

The government’s decision to withdraw the Constitution (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2019 related to the appointment of the prime minister was made by the Cabinet unanimously, said Communications and Multimedia Minister Saifuddin Abdullah.

“I think it was because of a different philosophy, different government, a different way of looking at certain things,” he said when asked about the reason for the sudden change.

When asked if the decision would affect the government’s reform credentials, Saifuddin said there were many items on the reform agenda and most of them were still on the table.

“There are many items under the reform credentials; we’re still working on many things, for example on the distribution of power between the legislative, executive and judiciary. It is still on the table. On the law reform, I think we are still discussing the formation of the Law Reform Commission.

“Political and democratic reform is still on the table, independence of Parliament, the formation of select committees […],” he said.

He told reporters this after attending a ceremony for the Digital Content Fund (DKD) Letters of Offer and Incentive Feature Film (ITFC) cheque presentations and the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signing between National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (Finas), Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) and Malaysian Board of Technologists (MBOT) in the capital today.

The government today had withdrawn the Constitution (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2019 related to the appointment of the prime minister and the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) Bill 2019 from being tabled for the second reading in the Dewan Rakyat.

The withdrawal was made by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Parliament and Law) Takiyuddin Hassan under Clause 62 of the Dewan Rakyat Standing Orders, after the question-and-answer session this morning. - Bernama