Two terms limit beneficial to people, state and country, says political analyst

The proposed two terms limit for the Prime Minister, Chief Minister and Menteri Besar will be beneficial to the people, state and country, says a political analyst.

Universiti Malaya senior lecturer Associate Prof Dr Awang Azman Awang Pawi said with the changes of Prime Minister, Menteri Besar and Chief Minister, people would get new development ideas and strategies.

On Friday, Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad proposed that the term of office of the Prime Minister, Menteri Besar and Chief Minister would be limited to two terms only as an immediate measure to reform the political system.

“Indonesia and the United States are countries that applied this two terms policy,” said Awang Azman, adding that in the context of Malaysia, the implementation of the two-term limit would be able to prevent monopoly of power among the leaders.

He added that this monopoly of power would then lead to an autocratic government as they became too powerful and susceptible to use money politics to maintain support and power.

“It will be hard for the leaders to stop it and without sufficient checks and balances in place, this will lead to the practice of cronyism and nepotism. However, by implementing the two-term limit, it will ensure that there will be continuous democratic practices,” he told Bernama.