Addressing the media: Fahmi speaking during post-Cabinet press conference at the Communication Ministry in Putrajaya. — Bernama
PUTRAJAYA: Several Bills that reflect the government’s efforts to reform and enhance government institutions will be tabled in Parliament soon, says Fahmi Fadzil.
The Communications Minister, who also serves as unity government spokesman, said the government welcomed the feedback from electoral reform watchdog Bersih and had reviewed the remarks of its chairman.
“The government, as always, takes into account views from various stakeholders and will continue to strive to improve the quality of services through efforts, initiatives, enhancements, changes and reforms.
“This includes institutional reforms. In the remaining days of the current Parliament meeting, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said is expected to table several Bills that reflect the government’s efforts and initiatives to reform or enhance government institutions.
“Some Bills may also be brought forward to the first meeting of the next parliamentary session, scheduled in February,” Fahmi told the post-Cabinet meeting press conference here yesterday.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the government had accepted its D grade rating from Bersih but was positive it would get an improved grade in the future.
Anwar said the grade from Bersih’s recent report on the government’s performance was acceptable considering the government had only served for just two years.
“About Bersih’s report, it is okay to get a ‘D’ instead of an ‘F’. Today, we get a ‘D’ mark for UPSR and next time we can get an ‘A’ for SPM (Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia),” he told the Dewan Rakyat.
On Nov 20, Bersih gave the Pakatan Harapan-led administration a grade of D in its mid-term evaluation, in which the poor performance was attributed to the coalition government’s failure to carry out significant institutional reforms.
“Many of the Bills currently being drafted and planned are still in progress, including those under the Communications Ministry,” said Fahmi.
“For example, the Malaysian Media Council Bill is in its final stages before being tabled in Parliament.
“We hope to have its first reading in this meeting, reflecting the government’s commitment to improvement, including enhancing the ecosystem for media practitioners,” he added.
Separately, Fahmi confirmed that the proposed tabling of the Gig Worker Bill in Parliament will be postponed to another date.
“I can confirm that the matter was discussed during the Cabinet meeting,” he said.
“The Cabinet was informed that the Human Resources Minister intends to postpone the tabling to allow further engagement process with various parties.
“For further queries including the timeline, you can refer directly to the Human Resources Minister.”
On the Opposition’s willingness to resume talks on allocations for MPs, he said the engagement can start with Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof to proceed with negotiations.
“We welcome this,” he added.
