It should not apply only to future chief ministers of Penang, he said today.
He was responding to state Pakatan Harapan (PH) vice-chairman and state DAP chairman Chow Kon Yeow who said on Sunday the PH “would consider” including the two-term limit for the Penang CM position in its 14th general election manifesto.
Teh said if PH was sincere in wanting to limit the chief minister to two terms, the coalition should adopt it right away in principle, rather than wait to make it legal first.
He said the legal route required the Penang State Constitution to be amended, which would take “two to three” years before coming into effect.
Teh said the legal route would effectively extend the tenure of the incumbent CM to another two terms or 10 years.
To prevent this from happening, he said those amending the State Constitution must ensure the term limit was made retrospective or to include past CMs as well.
“Now we hear that term limit is a campaign promise. So imagine, once winning and forming the government, it would take another two to three years to make the term limit legal, after numerous stages of debate at the assembly.
“It would then take another two to three years before the limit takes effect,” Teh told reporters.
Current CM Lim Guan Eng has held the office for two terms, since 2008.
Teh has been calling for a term limit for the chief minister since 2015. He also has called for a provision where a woman be appointed as CM as well. He said his proposals were needed to rejuvenate the leadership and avoid cronyism.
His refusal to toe the party line has earned him the ire of the backbenchers in the assembly and veteran DAP leaders as well.
Berapit DAP chairman Ang Tun Keat had given Teh a dressing down for “attacking his own party”, calling on him to resign if he carried on with his ways.
At the same press conference, Parti Rakyat Malaysia GE14 candidate Chew Seng Tung said the two-term limit was possible if only the Penang government had the political will.
He said Penang PH’s allowance for a term limit was strange, because a senior DAP rep had objected to the idea.
Chew said Penang CM’s political secretary Wong Hon Wai had said the term-limit for the CM was not suitable for parliamentary democracies based on the Westminster system.
“The Penang government had plenty of opportunities to implement the two-term limit before, but they were not keen on it. But now all of a sudden, they want it.
“I feel it is just a promise made in vain. I suspect after GE14, they will forget the promise,” Chew said.
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2014/11/11/cm-term-limit-proposal-not-aimed-at-anyone/
Assemblyman wants 2-term limit for CM post, women to hold office too