PUTRAJAYA: The suggestion to enact a Fixed Term Parliament Act (FTPA) in the upcoming Parliament session in March has received the thumbs-up from an institutional reform advocate.
Project - Stability and Accountability for Malaysia (Projek Sama) has lauded the suggestion by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (pic) on Saturday (Jan 13) to enact a law to prevent mid-term changes of government.
"Projek Sama urges the government to enact a Fixed Term Parliament Act (FTPA) in the upcoming Parliament session in March and welcomes the proposal," it said in a statement on Sunday (Jan 14).
It said FTPA is both a 15th General Election (GE15) manifesto promise of Pakatan Harapan and one of the reforms called for by 33 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and 52 individuals in the 2024 new year message initiated by Projek Sama.
Projek Sama said that a FTPA will constrain the Prime Minister’s power when it comes to seeking royal assent for an early dissolution of Parliament, but will leave the Yang di-Pertuan Agong's powers under Articles 40(2)(b) and 43(4) to withhold his consent completely untouched.
It added that the King can still reject any request for early dissolution, while the Prime Minister has to share the power to make such a request with fellow Parliamentarians.
Such an Act would allow the government of the day formed after the general election to work effectively until the end of its term.
Projek Sama said that such a law will make early elections harder and added that the Madani government should start public consultation now for an FTPA Bill to be tabled and passed in the upcoming parliamentary sitting in March.
"With an FTPA, the Parliament must serve its full term of five years unless either of these circumstances occur; the Prime Minister has lost the confidence of Parliament or two-thirds or more of Parliament passes a resolution to call for an early dissolution," it said.
Projek Sama said with that, the Prime Minister cannot seek to dissolve the Parliament at their whim and fancy before its full term unless clear conditions are met.
It added that the decision to seek royal assent must lie within the House to minimise political adventurism, to assure an inclusive and stable parliamentary democracy.
Projek Sama also said a key feature of an FTPA is that it can stop any move that hopes to overthrow a sitting government by collecting statutory declarations (SDs) from Parliamentarians.
It added that an FTPA can limit “loss of confidence” to any of the following three circumstances; the passing of a no-confidence motion, the defeat of a confidence motion and the defeat of a Budget (Supply Bill) in the second or third reading.
It also said the abuse of SDs by using them as tools of destabilisation is an exploitation of the Federal Constitution's silence in Article 43 on the method in ascertaining Parliament's confidence in Government or the loss thereof.
"Any formation or dismissal of the government should happen by way of confidence and supply votes on the floor of the Dewan Rakyat where MPs can cast their votes openly. This is where an FTPA can close this gap without contradicting or needing to amend the Federal Constitution," it said.
Projek Sama added that with an FTPA, the government will not be distracted by operations like the Dubai Move.
It then said that fixed electoral calendars are not only a feature in presidential and semi-presidential democracies like Indonesia and Taiwan, but are also increasingly popular in parliamentary democracies such as Norway, Sweden and states in Australia.
"It is time for Malaysia to do the same to affirm stability and accountability," it said.
Ahmad Zahid's suggestions come in the wake of an alleged conspiracy called the “Dubai Move” where certain Opposition leaders allegedly attempted to buy over enough government MPs to deny the current administration the requisite simple majority in Parliament in order to rule.
However, top federal Opposition leaders, including Perikatan Nasional chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, have described these allegations as “nonsensical libel”.
