Sibu rep: Constitutional amendment needed to prevent another hung parliament
DAP’s Sibu MP, Oscar Ling, sees the need for a constitutional amendment to prevent the recurrence of a hung parliament in the future after the 15th general election resulted in a deadlock that took some six days to resolve.
He pointed out that this was because the country has entered a new political era where no party can claim itself to be dominant, thus requiring parties from across the political divide to work together in time to come.
“I think the most important thing to do in the next five years is to continue democratic reforms in Malaysia. In the future political parties from different side to work together will be a norm, we need to ensure our constitution is amended to resolve the issue of hung Parliament,” stressed Ling.
In the concluded general election, no coalition had won the simple majority of 112 out of 222 seats in the Dewan Rakyat.
The coalition with the most seats were Pakatan Harapan with 82, while Perikatan Nasional has 73, Barisan Nasional has 30 and Gabungan Parti Sarawak, 23.
Ling, who is Sarawak DAP vice chairman, also highlighted the need for reforms in institutions, and the election system, to eliminate corruption as well as to provide for a clean, fair and free election.
Additionally, he said the other important issue that needs to be tackled is the economic challenges ahead.
“The whole world might face economic recession next year, how to deal with it to ensure people’s livelihood is not negatively affected is of utmost importance,” he said.
That aside, Ling congratulated Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for having officially been appointed as Malaysia’s 10th prime minister, after taking his oaths of office and secrecy before the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Thursday.
Ling also thanked all Sibu voters for giving him the mandate to continue serving them for the next five years.
Ling successfully retained the Sibu parliamentary seat for the third term after defeating Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) heavyweight Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh and Gabungan Parti Sarawak’s (GPS) Clarence Ting.
Ling, who garnered 31,287 votes, recorded a comfortable majority of 7,760 votes. Ting and Wong polled 23,527 votes and 11,128 votes respectively.