Pakatan Rakyat says the government must not dissolve Parliament until the PSC's recommendations are implemented.
DAP Rasah MP Anthony Loke said that a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on electoral reforms would be meaningless if Parliament was dissolved now.
“The suggestions (raised) in that committee will have to be debated in Parliament in the first session next year,” he said, referring to the proposed PSC, which would be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat this October.
Loke said that any ideas and suggestions raised on electoral reforms would come to naught if the government went ahead with the next polls.
“(If this happens), it means that the PSC will be dissolved automatically and whatever suggestions which were brought in will not be valid.
“Nothing will be implemented out of it,” he said, adding that if such an instance was to take place, it would be seen as a “political theatre”.
In August, the Cabinet agreed to the setting up of the PSC to look into the issues behind Malaysia’s current electoral process.
At the time, the Cabinet agreed for the motion on the proposed PSC to be tabled at the next Parliamentary sitting this October.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nazri Abdul Aziz said that the committee would consist of five Barisan Nasional MPs, three Pakatan MPs and one independent MP.
‘Remember your promise, Najib’
During a press conference at the PAS’ headquarters here this morning, Pakatan Rakyat MPs asked the government to accede to five different demands regarding the upcoming general election.
These included:
- the fulfillment of Bersih 2.0′s eight demands.
- to allow both Pakatan and BN to decide on the next GE’s date.
- to give enough time for the PSC to implement the suggestions and ideas raised.
- to address the foreign voter issue in the electoral roll.
- a guarantee of full cooperation from the ruling government.
He cited Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s mandate as the deadline, which he said ended in March 8, 2013.
Salahuddin also reminded the premier of his July 31 promise, where Najib said that he was committed to electoral reforms.
At the time, Najib said: “I’m committed to electoral reform. We will make sure there are no more phantom voters.”
Touching on the second point in the list of demands, Salahuddin said that it was common for democratic countries such as the United Kingdom to have coalitions on both sides of the political divide to agree on an election date.
“This has never happened before in (our) history… this consensus together,” he said, adding that it would be a historic event if it were to take place.
Even so, Salahuddin warned that the government needed to take the PSC seriously, and feared that it would become another committee that would see “nothing happen”.
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