Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) has urged Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to honour the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed between the federal government and Pakatan Harapan rather than give in to political pressure to call for an early election.
"Hot on the heels of the Johor state election, which itself was triggered by party hopping and political jostling, some parties have been urging the hasty dissolution of Parliament, thus triggering the 15th general election.
"This is in the hopes of furthering their political ambitions at a time when the nation needs to prioritise getting back on her feet.
"However, failure to comply with the MOU will lead to a major trust deficit on the government not only by the rakyat but also among international observers,” said TI-Malaysia president Muhammad Mohan in a statement today.
He said it is important that Malaysian leaders take stock of the events that have unfolded after GE14.
"The nation has gone through three prime ministers and four state elections, while the economy has been in a slump for over two years.
"Malaysians have even been urged by the government to withdraw their retirement savings on more than one occasion," he added.
Aggressive push for polls
Muhammad reminded the prime minister that despite the presence of a national action plan, and announcements of commitments to fight corruption and abuse of power, a number of fundamental reforms have been skewed, shelved, postponed repetitively and ignored by the various leaderships of the nation.
"There is more to democracy than elections and campaign treats or threats.
"Parliament must uphold its commitment to the rakyat and the laws it sought to reform since the last change of leadership and the signing of the MOU.
"Key reforms such as limiting the prime minister’s tenure to a maximum of 10 years, anti-hopping law and parliamentary reforms were promised but none have been tabled so far.
"Was it all a farce or play-acting to avoid a political downfall?" he asked.
His comments came after an aggressive push for snap polls to be held soon was heard at last week's Umno general assembly.
However, after drumming up election talk themselves, Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and his deputy Mohamad Hasan then implied that they would wait out the MOU which stipulates that Parliament can't be dissolved before July 31.
Speaking at a press conference after closing the Umno general assembly, Zahid said that there was a timeline for when Ismail Sabri should call for snap polls, as it has yet to be discussed by the party's top five leaders. - Mkini
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