Face criticism, says Tun M

PUTRAJAYA: The Pakatan Harapan (PH) government is receiving a taste of its own medicine after being on the “other side” for 60 years.

Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said now that it is in power, it must be ready to face criticism.

He was commenting on a Merdeka Centre survey which revealed that 61% of Malaysians think the country is not heading in the right direction, saying instead that we are lucky that despite the change of government, everything has been running smoothly.

“We have a coalition of four parties and still have a functioning Cabinet that can make decisions.”

Mahathir said in other countries such as South America, people are taking to the streets due to the vast economic hardship, which does not exist in this country, yet the people here seem to be unhappy.

“A lot of people are investing in our country, we’re just not announcing it. The best thing is to be in the Opposition as you can criticise the government as the

Opposition had done for years,” he said at a press conference after chairing the Special Cabinet Committee meeting on AntiCorruption (JKKMAR) yesterday.

Mahathir said the JKKMAR and the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission had agreed to set up a Complaints Committee which will monitor and manage complaints of misconduct in 20 enforcement agencies, apart from the police.

“This is to ensure the monitoring of the 20 agencies can be carried out in line with the monitoring of the police,” he said. “It will be set up soon.”

Both the JKKMAR and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) have agreed that the termination of the MACC chief commissioner be made via a constitutional process through amending the relevant law.

The JKKMAR also agreed to carry out a feasibility study for the MACC chief commissioner’s appointment to be done through a constitutional process.

“This is to prevent government intervention and ensure transparency.”