DAP backs limiting Sabah Chief Minister to two terms | Daily Express Online

By Corruption Buzz On Sep 26, 2022

DAP backs limiting Sabah Chief Minister to two terms

Published on: Monday, September 26, 2022

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Phoong said many countries around the world such as the US and France practise a similar policy to prevent absolute power that would lead to absolute corruption.

Kota Kinabalu: Sabah DAP Secretary Phoong Jin Zhe said it welcomes the proposed two-term limit for Chief Ministership in Sabah. Describing it as a good start, the Luyang Assemblyman urged the GRS government to introduce more reform agendas.
“Four Sabah DAP elected state assembly members will support the state constitutional amendment if the government is ready to table the Bill to limit the Chief Ministership to two terms.

“In fact two term limit on premiership was originally the idea proposed and executed by PH-DAP,” said Phoong who is also Pakatan Harapan Sabah Youth Chief in a statement, Sunday.
He said many countries around the world such as the US and France practise a similar policy to prevent absolute power that would lead to absolute corruption.
“DAP has been consistent in advocating institutional reforms, we are happy to see this reform agenda being materialised and implemented, the Chief Minister should table the Bill with no delay,” he said.
He said Penang that is governed by DAP-PH has amended the state constitution in 2018 to limit the Chief Ministership to two terms, adding this showed DAP-PH determination on strengthening the democratic institutions.
“The proposal to limit the Chief Ministership was one of the 36 reform agenda proposals that was submitted to the Chief Minister by Pakatan Harapan Sabah last year.
“Other reform proposals include allowing all elected representatives to join district level action committee meetings that are focused on tackling livelihood issues and natural disasters.

“Most importantly, the proposal also includes 13 reforms for the Sabah Legislative Assembly, establish special select committees, appoint an Opposition member to chair the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and these are all being practised in the Parliament already.
“This does not only strengthen our democratic institutions but also brings Sabah forward to building a more mature democracy.
“I would also like to remind the Chief Minister to table the state constitutional amendment on Anti-Hopping Law to ensure the political frog culture is truly eliminated from Sabah,” he said.
He said the Opposition plays a bigger role than only providing check and balance like constructive solutions to the government.
“We support good reform agendas but it does not mean we are willing to compromise our principles to blindly support all government bills.
“The state assembly has very limited improvement in terms of democratic reforms. For instance, so far for 2022 we only sat for eight days to discuss many people-related issues. We should do more and the government must not sideline this.

“Bipartisan select committees will be a good start in the Sabah Legislative Assembly to seriously look into various proposals of institutional reforms to lead Sabah forward,” he said.
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