I have received the initial notification of the parliamentary business for the 41-day budget meeting beginning on Monday, August 18, which will break for six weeks after the 2009 budget presentation by the Prime Minister-cum-Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Friday, August 29 for the fasting month and Hari Raya holidays, resuming on Oct. 12 for 32 sittings till December 11, 2008.
It is a great disappointment, for it is evident that there will be no reformist bill for Parliament in August, whether for the establishment of
(i) the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC), the most important of the 125 recommendations of the Royal Police Commission more than three years ago in May 2005 to create an efficient, incorruptible, professional world-class police service to keep crime low, fight corruption and uphold human rights;
(ii) the Judicial Appointments Commission as the first step to restore national and international confidence in the independence, impartiality, integrity and quality of the judiciary after two decades of “judicial darkness” and being the laughing-stock of the world; and
(iii) the Malaysian Commission on Anti-Corruption (MCAC) to eradicate the rampant corruption in the country which has seen Malaysia’s ranking in the annual Transparency International Corruption Perception Index sliding relentlessly from No. 23 in 1995 to No. 37 in 2003 and No. 43 in 2007 and to spearhead a “zero tolerance for corruption” campaign to place Malaysia among the world’s 20 least corrupt nations.
This means that despite the Prime Minister claiming after the March 8 “political tsunami” that he has heard the message of the people in the recent general election, resulting in the ending of UMNO political hegemony and Barisan Nasional two-thirds parliamentary majority in Parliament, and the establishment of five Pakatan Rakyat state governments, he has nothing to show in terms of legislative reforms in the first six months of his second premiership!
When Parliament starts its budget meeting on 18th August, the legislative business after the question time will be debate on three bills which had been tabled for first reading in the previous meeting, viz:
(i) National Kenaf and Tobacco Board Bill 2008;
(ii) Education (Amendment) Bill 2008;
(iii) Universities and University Colleges (Amendment) Bill 2008.
The failure to introduce any legislative reform in anyone of the three important institutions of police, judiciary and the fight against corruption in the first six months after the March 8 “political tsunami” should be the subject of censure by the Permatang Pauh voters speaking on behalf of all Malaysian voters in the August 26 by-election.