ABSENTEE MPS A LET DOWN

By Wong Chun Wai

KUALA LUMPUR, March 4 (Bernama) -- It’s a big let-down for Malaysians. We would have thought that our Members of Parliament (MPs) would support the rare and defining moment to back the long-awaited reform initiative, the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2026, which cuts across political divides.

Our lawmakers cannot be whining about the purported slow progress of reforms, and yet when an opportunity comes to make a difference, many choose to abstain and worse, are absent from the Dewan Rakyat.

It was an opportunity to entrench in the Federal Constitution a limit of 10 years for any individual to serve as Prime Minister.

The absence of eight government lawmakers, coupled with the refusal of some opposition lawmakers to support the amendment, has been hugely disappointing.

Bukit Gantang MP Datuk Syed Abu Hussin Hafiz Syed Abdul Fasal, a former Bersatu leader who is now backing the government, said he decided to skip the meeting because he disagreed with the new law.

Datuk Larry Sng, the Sarawakian MP from Julau, said he was caught in a traffic jam, which can hardly be accepted as an excuse.

“I was on my way back to Parliament from a prior engagement but was stuck in traffic,” Sng reportedly said.

Datuk Seri M. Saravanan, the MP for Tapah, said he was attending a religious function.

Other absentees were Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein (Sembrong), Datuk Henry Sum Agong (Lawas), Datuk Suhaimi Nasir (Libaran), Riduan Rubin (Tenom) and Datuk Seri Jeffrey Kitingan (Keningau).

In the bloc vote, 146 MPs supported the Bill, 44 abstained and 32 were absent. It needed at least 148 votes to meet the two-thirds majority required for a constitutional amendment. All the Pakatan Harapan MPs from the DAP and PKR attended and voted for the Bill.

The failure of the MADANI Government to push through the bill isn’t a vote of no confidence. No one voted against the Bill.

But without doubt, it is an embarrassment as the optics were bad. There should have been better coordination.

Surely, the government whips and coordinators should not take for granted that our MPs will turn up.

This was, after all, an amendment to the Federal Constitution.

The Malaysian voters are not going to buy the flimsy excuses offered by the absentee government MPS. Some have not even bothered to explain.

We are not talking of just missing the approval by two votes, but the fact that 32 MPs were missing. To put it bluntly, they ponteng (play truant).

When MPs fail to show up for such a historic vote, it is not a minor procedural lapse; it is a dereliction of responsibility.

There was no excuse to abstain either unless the aim was not to support for the sake of putting down a government Bill.

Thus, the opposition MPs could not find a reason to vote against, as it was a fundamental reform aimed at strengthening democratic governance.

A two-term or 10-year limit for the PM would have signalled Malaysia’s commitment to institutional renewal and the prevention of excessive concentration of power.

But the Opposition chose to abstain and then gloat and celebrate after the Bill failed to get through. One may disagree with the government of the day, but constitutional reform should transcend partisan lines.

 The proposed amendment was not about targeting any individual or any political party. It was about ensuring that no future PM, regardless of party, would be able to remain in office indefinitely. 

It was about institutional safeguards, not personalities. It was not about politics. This was a major political reform initiative.

It is not even something new, as in the United States, for instance, the presidency is capped at two terms and in Indonesia, the constitution similarly limits the president to two five-year terms.

As voters, we have every right to demand accountability, and the media must ask the 32 MPs why they were absent. It is bad enough that we have to put up with the theatrics of some MPs, but when it comes to deciding on critical issues, we expect them to be there.

Nevertheless, this is not the end, as the amendment can and should be re-tabled. If reform is to mean anything, it requires discipline, unity of purpose, and above all, the willingness to put national interest above party strategy.

-- BERNAMA

*  Datuk Seri Wong Chun Wai is a National Journalism Laureate and chairman of the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama)