Sepang MP Hanipa Maidin, who was a deputy law minister in the former Pakatan Harapan government, said there was a lack of reforms in the Election Commission, Attorney-General’s Chambers, Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, and the Parliament.
He also criticised the ministry and EC for not being quick in implementing Undi18 (voting age of 18) and automatic voter registration which he said should have been implemented for the Melaka state elections.
“It seems to me that the government does not support these reforms because the young voters tend to vote for the opposition,” said Hanipa.
Hanipa said the ministry and MACC had not acted swiftly on information from the Pandora Papers leaks, which implicated several Malaysian politicians and businessmen for owning offshore bank accounts.
“MACC did not act on the leaks until (opposition leader) Anwar Ibrahim raised it in Parliament,” he said.
He also accused the MACC and the Attorney-General’s Chambers for allegedly allowing Umno politicians Ahmad Maslan and Tengku Adnan Mansor to get off the hook in corruption cases.
On parliamentary reforms, Hanipa lamented the lack of prime minister’s question time, a specific day for MPs to table amendments and Private Member’s Bills, or a special day for the opposition to debate the Bills and the amendments.
The PH practice of providing copies of the Auditor-General’s report to all MPs before tabling annual budgets had been discontinued, he said.
He said Wan Junaidi should be more upfront when answering parliamentary queries. “If he faces obstacles to reforms, he should say so,” Hanipa said.
However, Bersih chairman Thomas Fann described Wan Junaidi as one of the more outstanding ministers in this cabinet.
He said the minister had formed 10 parliamentary select committees, amended some standing orders to facilitate hybrid meetings and facilitated the signing of the political agreement between Ismail and the opposition.
However, there was a lack of progress on legislation to ban party-hopping. “We would like to see the efforts to engage with stakeholders starting,” he said.
He hoped the ministry would bring about the long-mooted Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission to foster police accountability, and set up a parliamentary standing committee on election matters which would hold the EC accountable.
Muda vice-president Lim Wei Jiet said Wan Junaidi deserved credit for convincing the Cabinet not to appeal against a court decision for Undi18 and automatic voter registration to come into force by the end of 2021.
“Beyond that, while he is saying the right things such as championing anti-hopping laws, the Bills for these reforms are yet to be tabled,” Lim said. “Neither has the Government engaged civil society on feedback so far.”
Lim hoped the ministry would not wait for “painful” back-and-forth consultations. “We want a law ministry that is effective, consultative and quick in delivering reforms,” he said.
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