PUTRAJAYA, 17 Aug – DAP National Chairman Gobind Singh Deo wants key institutional reforms, including changes to the Attorney General and Public Prosecutor roles and a two-term limit for the Prime Minister, pushed through before the end of this year.
Gobind said the party’s decision to remain in the Federal Government, following yesterday’s decisive vote at the DAP National Conference must now translate into urgent and concrete steps to implement its core agenda, specifically institutional and economic reforms.
“I urge Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to take immediate action to realise these reforms. There must be clear, unyielding timelines set for foundational institutional reforms,” he said in a statement today.
The reforms also include long-overdue amendments to the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (SOSMA) and the Peaceful Assembly Act (PAA).
According to Gobind, the AG-PP separation bill and the two-term Prime Minister limit are already prepared, while work on the other two reforms has been underway for months.
A ministerial statement on SOSMA amendments was tabled in Parliament as far back as February last year, while amendments to the PAA have similarly been under discussion for months.
“The groundwork for these changes has already been laid. We must finalise and table them without any further delays,” he added.
Gobind also pointed to the government’s recent special parliamentary session on the Royal Commission of Inquiry report on Tabung Haji as a model for expediting the reform process.
“A similar route ought to be taken for these crucial reform bills, or additional sitting days must be added to the upcoming Dewan Rakyat session specifically dedicated to these,” he said.
Gobind said DAP remained committed to seeing the reforms through, with the bills to be passed by year-end.
At the Aug 16 conference, 1,857 delegates voted for DAP to remain in the unity government, while 242 voted to leave.