KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government is facing some difficulty fulfilling its election manifesto pledges that required amendments to the law because it does not command a two-thirds majority in Parliament.
“Yes, we have done much of what we promised in the manifesto but with regard to the amendment or abolition of any law which relates to the constitution, it needs a two-thirds approval in the Dewan Rakyat.
“So this is our problem, it is not that we don’t want to do it but to change the law, sometimes we have to refer to the Constitution,” he told a media conference at the Chinese New Year celebrations open house at the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall today.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail was also present.
Mahathir was responding to questions on pledges in PH’s manifesto yet to be implemented, including the establishment of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC), a delay that may affect the nation’s Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) ranking for this year.
Meanwhile, Mahathir said the government’s effort to abolish the mandatory death sentence, which is also a PH manifesto, has been rejected by some quarters.
“While we want to remove the death penalty, there are people who are objecting to this because their family members have been killed and so on.
“So we can’t do this easily, it takes time.
It is similar with the establishment of IPCMC, which Dr Mahathir said was not easy to implement. — Bernama
