KUALA LUMPUR: DAP national organising secretary Loke Siew Fook has called on Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to extend the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between Pakatan Harapan (PH) and the federal government last year.
Speaking at the Dewan Rakyat today, Loke (PH-Seremban) urged Ismail to put the 15th general election on hold in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, noting that several candidates in the Johor state elections on Saturday have tested positive.
“I would like to suggest to Bera (Ismail) that after the anti-hopping law is passed, why don’t we discuss extending the MoU until after July 31 … we can call it, MoU 2.0.
“We can have an agreement that while Covid-19 is still spreading, we can postpone the general election until after this session of Parliament (ending Dec 15).”
However, Loke stressed that this would be dependent on whether Ismail could deliver on the terms of the MoU.
PH signed the MoU with Ismail last September to restore political stability following a change of government.
In January, PKR communications chief Fahmi Fadzil said 13 of the 18 items in the MoU had been implemented.
Loke had previously said the July 31, 2022 date in the MoU should not be viewed as a deadline, and that the government could take additional time to implement the reforms agreed upon if it needed to.
In Parliament today, he said among the issues MoU 2.0 could tackle was a Constituency Development Fund Act, which would ensure that all parliamentary constituencies receive equal allocations.
Under current practice, development funds for government MPs are many times more than what opposition members receive. The funds are used at their discretion on constituency projects. Government MPs also receive funds for running their service centres.
“After this, it’s not just about an MoU or policy. Every parliamentary constituency, no matter if it voted for the government or opposition, is given equal funding … every term, every government, and it doesn’t matter who is in government.
“This is an important and fair agenda for the rakyat,” he said. - FMT
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