Out of all the prime ministers that have been at the helm since 2009, Ismail Sabri has been named as the “best” by electoral watchdog Bersih.
This comes after Bersih released its ‘report card’ on the performance of past and current prime ministers such as Anwar Ibrahim, Muhyiddin Yassin, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Ismail Sabri, and Najib Razak, reported FMT.
Ismail Sabri named ‘best’ PM by Bersih
According to Bersih, the reason why Sabri came out on top was due to several reforms that took place during his tenure from March 2019 to February 2020.
This included the allocation of equal development funds to the opposition, through a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Pakatan Harapan (PH).
Thanks to the MoU, it led to bipartisan support for the passing of key reforms such as the anti-hopping law and lowering of the voting age from 21 to 18.
After Sabri, Mahathir came in second place, followed by Anwar, Muhyiddin and Najib.
Gave Anwar’s unity govt ‘D’ grade
Bersih didn’t hold back in its criticism of Anwar’s unity government, where it was given a ‘D’ grade for its current performance, citing “limited progress in carrying out reforms” and “the gap between its rhetoric and action” as factors.
We believe that a post-election coalition government should not be an excuse to abandon all reform promises made in the manifestos of Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional.
“This is especially so given the fact that there are four common major promises in both the BN and PH manifestos — which show they are in agreement — that have not been fully implemented,” said Bersih chairman Faisal Abdul Aziz.
The electoral watchdog also called the lack of reforms “perplexing”, given the fact that the unity government holds a srong parliamentary majority.
However, Bersih credited Anwar for making efforts to engage with civil society and being the first prime minister to hold talks with them.
Nevertheless, Bersih panned Anwar for dragging his feet on pushing for electoral, institutional and civil liberty reforms and warned that his government no longer had the luxury to sit on the matter anymore.
Among the reforms Bersih is urging Anwar to carry out are as follows:
- Enact key laws (Parliamentary Services Act, Political Financing Act, Fixed Term Parliament Act)
- Allocate equal funds for the opposition
- 10-year term limit for the prime minister’s post
- Separation of roles of the Attorney-General and public prosecutor to be sped up
- Parliamentary oversight for key appointments
Do you agree with Bersih’s report card? Share with us in the comments!
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