KUALA LUMPUR – Perikatan Nasional (PN) has rejected the draft of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) prepared by the government on parliamentary allocations.
In a statement, PN secretary-general and opposition leader Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin said that the coalition received two sets of draft MoUs from the government – one between the government and the PN coalition and another between the government and PN MPs.
Hamzah, who is also Bersatu’s secretary-general, cited four “fundamental reasons” behind the rejection, with “contravening the Federal Constitution” listed as the first reason.
“Several conditions imposed in this MoU could affect the special privileges of the Malays and Bumiputera that are guaranteed under the constitution,” the statement said without much elaboration.
The second reason listed said the drafts went “against the traditional, cultural, moral, religious, and local values”.
Hamzah, in the statement, also said the drafts are devoid of a “clear mechanism”, making them vulnerable to misinterpretation and forms of non-compliance and infringement ex-parte.
The fourth reason cited was that the draft MoU seemed to contain conditions that stifle MPs’ freedom of speech despite them having the rights and immunity to speak up on public interest in accordance with the House of Parliament (Privileges and Powers) Act 1952.
“Therefore, PN would like to remind the government of the Pakatan Harapan manifesto which promised equal constituency development funds to all MPs regardless of their party – and the people are wondering what happened to those promises,” said Hamzah.
Hamzah’s announcement came after PN chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin reportedly expressed his concerns with the draft MoU, which he described as “unusual and complicated”
He also said that a meeting held between PN MPs to discuss the draft concluded that the MoU showed no genuine intention to help them.
On September 2, Scoop reported PN chief whip Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan as saying that the draft MoU contained seven conditions, where one of them stated that opposition MPs need to declare their support for the government until the dissolution of the Parliament.
The MoU also required MPs to declare their assets and contain matters related to race, religion and royalty.
‘PAS must reject MoU’
Meanwhile at the PAS’ 70th Muktamar in Pahang, party information chief Ahmad Fadhli Shaari stressed that the Islamic party must reject the draft MoU.
He claimed that the draft agreement set a condition where PN MPs would get allocations but with a condition of acknowledging that the Federal Constitution is a document that provides equal rights to all Malaysians regardless of their race and religion.
He said that acknowledging the MoU would be akin to acknowledging the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Icerd), which is a United Nations convention that calls for eliminating racial discrimination in all its forms and manifestations.
The previous Pakatan Harapan government intended to ratify the UN convention in 2019 but soon withdrew the plan following brickbats from Umno, PAS and Malay interest groups who said that the convention contravenes the special privileges accorded to Malays and Bumiputera.
“If we submit to the MoU, it means that we have forsaken our (party’s) struggle by submitting to the pressure (by the government) and forsaking the Constitution which placed Islam as the (official) religion of the Federation and placed importance on Bumiputera rights.
“If we (PAS) accept the MoU, then it is pointless for us to talk about struggles for our faith and the unity of the majority race.
“I would like to seek a consensus from all Muktamar attendees that we will not submit to the pressure from the PH-BN government,” he added, which was greeted with a collective chant of “agree” from the attendees. – September 15, 2024
