Bornean states won't lose bargaining power with fixed parliament term, says Tangau

KOTA KINABALU: The proposal for a Fixed Term Parliament Act (FTPA) will benefit the Bornean states as they would not have to worry about political domination by certain coalitions, says Tuaran MP Datuk Wilfred Madius Tangau.

He dismissed as "misinformation" suggestions that such a law might see Sabah and Sarawak lose their bargaining power as a new hegemonic coalition similar to Barisan Nasional would emerge.

"In fact, an FTPA will benefit (the Bornean states) and (local-based) parties," he said in a statement on Friday (Jan 26).

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Tangau said such arguments arose because some quarters feared the unity government would become too strong.

"First, the FTPA must, in a package, entail amendments to Parliament Standing Orders to prioritise motions of no-confidence and confidence votes.

"If any Federal Government in future hurts the interests of Sabah and Sarawak, Borneo-based parties can easily move to unseat it on the floor of the Dewan Rakyat," he said.

Secondly, he said the FTPA would permanently close the door on the collection and counting of statutory declarations (SDs) by parliamentarians.

"The shadowy game of SDs hurts not just national political stability, but also individual parties in negotiations to form a government. Because of SDs, Umno almost lost 10 votes in post-GE15 inter-party negotiations," he said.

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Tangau said the FTPA would also prevent a prime minister from whimsically seeking royal assent for early dissolution of Parliament as he would first need two-thirds support in the House.

"This practically means the PM cannot call for an early election at a time disadvantageous to the ruling coalitions in Sabah and Sarawak," he said, adding that FTPA could also be extended or adopted as laws by individual states.

"Such a law would put an end to speculations of early elections like what's currently happening in Sabah.

"It would allow Federal and state governments to focus till the end of their respective terms," the former Upko president added.

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Tangau, who was also a federal minister, said the government needed to issue a green paper to pre-empt misinformation being spread about the FTPA.

He said unlike a white paper which indicates the government's commitment to and detailed plan for a certain policy or reform, a green paper facilitates public discussion by providing correct information on various proposals to solicit feedback without committing the government to any proposal.