Horse trading in the quest for reforms?

THE institutional reforms that Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is talking about would require amending the constitution. This means he needs to secure the support of two-thirds of the members of parliament (MPs).

At the moment, Dr Mahathir’s Pakatan Harapan has about 122 seats and would require the support of another 46 MPs to pull the reforms through. The prime minister is confident of getting the necessary support.

But in the process, would there be some horse trading? Would he need to compromise the position of the federal government?

The biggest bloc of MPs outside Umno is from PAS which controls two states – Kelantan and Terengganu. PAS has 18 MPs and has always sought for more autonomy to implement Islamic laws in the states. Will the federal government yield to the demands?

The other bigger bloc of MPs is from the parties from Sarawak. The biggest is PBB which has 13 MPs, followed by smaller parties. Collectively, the parties from Sarawak that are not a part of the Pakatan Harapan coalition have 19 parliamentary seats.

Sarawak wants a bigger share of the pie from its oil and gas (O&G) revenues. It also wants higher recognition for its own O&G body called Petroleum Sarawak Bhd.

The federal government-controlled Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) is against the formation of any parallel body that governs the O&G resources of the country. Petronas’ view is that there can only be one authority that is allowed to give approvals for all O&G-related matters in the country.

The responsibility, Petronas feels, should continue to be in its hands, as in accordance to the Petroleum Development Act.

However, Pakatan Harapan is riding on institutional reforms and plans for that to kick off in the next two years.

It is only a matter of time before laws giving Parliament more powers and oversight over the executive, separating the duties of the attorney general and public prosecutor, and making key heads of institutions such as the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission only be accountable to Parliament are passed.

The institutional reforms are the cornerstone of Pakatan Harapan’s reforms, but at what price to the federal government?