KUALA LUMPUR – Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is able to comfortably pursue his reform agenda as the prime minister would still command a majority in Parliament regardless of a conviction of an MP, said Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman.
The Muda founder said this was because the administrations under Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had far less parliamentary support, where as little as three or four MPs had threatened government stability.
Syed Saddiq said this in response to the backlash that erupted following the discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) granted to Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi over the deputy prime minister’s graft charges.
“I’m being very fair to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. There’s a big difference between being blindly idealistic by saying ‘Just reject Umno in totality and be in the opposition’. That’s idealistic, you cannot form government, therefore you can’t pursue the changes that you want,” Syed Saddiq said during an interview on Scoop’s The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly podcast.
“But (now) you have formed government. You have rewarded Datuk Seri Zahid with the DPM post. Why must you compromise further by dropping charges?”
He pointed out that the government had a surplus of around 40 parliamentarians, making a collapse difficult.
“You really think that those who are corrupt that threaten to leave, everyone in Umno would leave, (or even) GPS, GRS? No, they won’t,” he said.
“Back then (previous administrations) you can afford to threaten because the margin was so slim. Today, it’s huge. That’s the part which I don’t understand. Are you willing to compromise everything to stay in power? I’m not.”
Despite announcing his departure from the unity government on Sunday, the Muar MP also suggested that he will not support any efforts to destabilise Anwar’s administration.
He also indicated that the government led by Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional should be allowed to go on to serve its full term.
“I’m all for stability and reforms. I believe we can achieve both simultaneously. I’ve remained consistent in my stance, even when I opposed the Sheraton Move and was out of the government, facing threats,” said Syed Saddiq.
His withdrawal has left the government one-seat short of a supermajority, posing a challenge for the introduction of constitutional amendments.
Last Monday, Zahid, who also chairs Barisan Nasional, was granted a DNAA by the high court on all 47 of his corruption, criminal breach of trust and money laundering charges involving his foundation, Yayasan Akalbudi.
Although he disagreed with the government’s handling of Zahid’s case, Syed Saddiq reaffirmed that he was committed to introducing reforms in the country, and reiterated that he would support the government’s bills and law amendments that were aligned with Muda’s direction.
He said following the Sheraton Move, he had advocated for a law on political funding, and even though Muda was not even registered at the time, he had run a campaign to gain bipartisan support from MPs.
Syed Saddiq said he desired to maintain the consistency of remaining non-partisan on reforms that benefited the country, as he did when he advocated for the anti-hopping law and the idea of introducing term limits for prime ministers in the past.
“Today, we should aspire to even more ambitious reforms, as this government is perceived as a reformist one,” Syed Saddiq said.
“This includes separating the AG and prosecution, imposing two-term limits, enacting a political funding act, reforming citizenship laws, and many more. I have my own wish list too. Some in the government share these beliefs, but without a political push, my concern is that they may delay action indefinitely.”
On the possibility of supporting any proposal to realign electoral boundaries, Syed Saddiq said that he would need to review the specific proposals, as it was a “complicated” matter. He said that he was not there to “hold the government hostage” but expressed his willingness to support good reforms requiring a supermajority.
“For example, proposals related to citizenship, women who marry foreigners and have children born abroad, and others.”
Addressing the issue of possible gerrymandering and redrawing of electoral boundaries, Syed Saddiq explained that it only required a simple majority, as was done by Datuk Seri Najib Razak in early 2018.
However, he clarified that adding new constituencies would require constitutional amendments.
“It’s challenging for me to comment without seeing the specific plan. The last thing we want is to make things worse.”
“For less complicated proposals, such as limiting the prime minister to two terms, separating the attorney-general from the public prosecutor, and others, count me in. As for the budget, the government doesn’t need my support, as they have a simple majority,” he said. – September 15, 2023