The speaker, Minister of Law Azalina Othman Said, begins by explaining why a 10-year term limit for the Prime Minister is difficult to implement, stating no leader wants to give up power. When asked to assess the current government's performance, she defends its progress on institutional reform, arguing that as a coalition government, passing reforms is a complex process. She refutes criticism that the Pakatan Harapan coalition has been slow on reform, detailing the time-consuming nature of constitutional amendments which require extensive studies, consultations, and a two-thirds majority in parliament.
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📍🟡 Azalina Othman Said, Minister of Law and Institutional Reform at the Prime Minister’s Department joins The Breakfast Grille to discuss:
• Will the Johor and Negeri Sembilan state elections destabilise relationships within the unity government?
• Is it unfair to criticise Pakatan Harapan for slow reforms?
• Why the Madani government is pushing to separate the powers of the Attorney General and Public Prosecutor
Watch the full interview on BFM's YouTube channel or via the link in our bio.
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Transcript
Example, on the ten year term period, I mean, no prime minister wanna give up tier post. Who wants to give up? Who wants to limit it for ten years? Which is not actually even British parliamentary practice. For ten years, say for example, Transyl Muidin is left with, eight years. Ismail Sabri also will be left with eight years. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, if he runs for the general election on the fourth year, he's left with six years. And which, head of state wanna give up their power? And he's willing to do that under the Madani block. Three and a half years of a Madani government. Do you think it's been good for the country? Well, I think I'm a bit biased because I'm in charge of institutional reform. And when you talk about institutional reform, a lot of, studies being done for certain reform agenda has been accepted by the government, which is say, not a majority government, but government that is a joint venture government, like, minority shareholders coming in. I think it's a good it's a good, start in a sense that we're able to contribute and to deliver some of the reform agenda. And I think it identifies that the Madani government is quite open for for change. The curious thing is the Madani government is the Madani government component of it has been criticized, severely for not being committed to reform, for the slow pace of reform. Much of it's fallen on Pakatan Harapan this criticism. I I I rank that's not fair because I think a reform agenda, especially if it's a constitutional reform, takes time. Studies have to be made and then discussion, No, CSO. And, you know, like, the sitting of parliament in a year. There are three sittings in a year. And at the end of the year, most of the third the third trimester sitting is for, the budget sitting. It is a long period of tier. For the government to make any reform agenda or any changes, it takes time based on the process of simple majority or or basically a two third majority. And two third majority comes in a lot in parliament for constitutional amendment, especially in reference to tier reform agenda. If I, go back to the last parliamentary session, we were looking into a ten year term, limit for prime ministership. We only lost by two votes, and it came from the government's side. To be very honest, I can admit it came from my party. But at the end of the day, to say that tier reform agenda has not reached its climax is also a bit unfair.
