Prime Minister's Act or Tunku Abdul Rahman's Pension Act proposed

PUTRAJAYA: Socio-Cultural Advisor to the Government Tan Sri Dr Rais Yatim has proposed that the Prime Minister's Act be drafted or the Tunku Abdul Rahman's Pension Act 1971, which was used previously, be amended by placing all the country's prime ministers under the Act.
He believed that the act could preserve the country's prime minister's institution besides avoiding political issues, freedom of speech and other matters that were not beneficial to the nation from being exploited.
"The Act can give respect and appropriate value to someone who has held the post of prime minister. The Act may also involve views on someone who has held a leadership role to undergo the process of becoming an ordinary person.
"Don't talk bad or criticise anyone (after no longer holding the position). The Act may involve the deputy prime minister and chief secretary to the government," he said when officially launching the Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Gallery Open Day, here today.
He said the Tunku Abdul Rahman's Pension Act had never been abolished until today because it was exclusively for the late Tunku Abdul Rahman who died in 1990.
Rais said that he had voiced his opinion on the Act as someone who had the experience of serving under five prime ministers from the late Tun Abdul Razak Hussein right up to Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak.
He said the opinion would be presented to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak later.
"It is up to the Prime Minister to decide," he added. — Bernama