SHAH ALAM – DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke has affirmed to party members that while he is a minister in the Madani government, he would not allow party members to vote against their conscience when given controversial legislations that require their green light.
In delivering his speech at the party’s 18th National Congress today, Loke said there were no issues and polemics that were left unaddressed by the party, which took a diplomatic approach in resolving them with discussions held with the ministers and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim – instead of taking a combative approach.
He revealed that one of the many polemics addressed and acted upon by the party was the deferment of the controversial constitutional amendment bill in March last year, which contained a clause stating that any abandoned foundlings will not be granted automatic citizenship.
The clause, he said, was poorly received by many stakeholders – such as NGOs who said that the clause was inhumane – and by government backbenchers as well.
Loke said that a Central Executive Committee (CEC) meeting was held on the eve of the tabling day of the bill, where the party’s 40 MPs were called in to provide their thoughts on the bill.
“I said that I will give them the freedom to vote (on the bill however they want), but they have to vote in their decisions now (during the CEC meeting).
“I gave each of them a white paper to cast their vote confidentially on whether they agree or disagree with the bill. Only four MPs voted ‘Yes’ to bring the amendment bill forward, while the rest of the MPs disagreed with the bill.
“As I concluded the meeting, I told the MPs that I respected their freedom (and that) although I am the secretary and a minister, I will never force our MPs to decide against their conscience.
“This is because we have women MPs who have said: I cannot go against my conscience. I remembered them saying that they are mothers who could not allow innocent foundlings who are abandoned by their parents to be deprived of their citizenship,” he said while delivering his speech in front of 4,203 delegates who attended the congress held at the Ideal Convention Centre (IDCC), here.
Loke later said that he would meet Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for a meeting on the same day at Seri Perdana, and told MPs that if he could not convince Anwar to change the government’s stance on the matter, he would tender his resignation from the cabinet the following day and the MPs are free to break ranks with the party and vote according to their conscience in the Dewan Rakyat.
He later met Anwar and other ministers and relayed his colleagues’ opposition to the constitutional amendment bill. However, he stressed that he did not threaten to resign or to retract DAP’s support for the government.
“I only asked: Datuk Seri, can you reconsider (this bill) or not as many MPs disagree with the (clause). He then asked Home Minister (Datuk Seri) Saifuddin (Nasution Ismail) whether the amendment was important, and he (Saifuddin) himself said that it might have to be reconsidered on (the basis of) humanity.
“The discussion did not even last for 15 minutes, the prime minister agreed (with us) and asked the home minister to defer the tabling of the bill (scheduled) for the following day,” he added.
More constitutional amendments needed
In his speech, Loke also called for the Madani government to pass two crucial constitutional amendments – which are setting the term limit for a prime minister for two terms and separating the roles of attorney-general and the public prosecutor in the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC).
“This (term limit) was one of the offers made by Pakatan Harapan in its manifesto for the previous general elections. We are not asking for Anwar to quit. But we want this amendment (tabling) to be his legacy in bringing reforms into the country’s administrative system,” he added.
Today’s DAP congress will also host the CEC election, where delegates will be voting for a new batch of leadership for the 30-man committee for the 2025-2028 term. – March 16, 2025