KUALA LUMPUR: The government does not have to give a reason for withdrawing a bill, de facto law minister Takiyuddin Hassan said today.
He was referring to the Cabinet’s decision yesterday to retract a bill to restrict the tenure of the prime minister to two terms.
Takiyuddin said the bill had been proposed by Pakatan Harapan (PH) and former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who had been premier for 22 years, the first time around, and again for 22 months before PH lost power in March.
He also said the Perikatan Nasional government had no intention to set term limits for the prime minister’s post.
He was responding to Sim Tze Tzin (PH-Bayan Baru), who said the PH government had pushed for the bill to avoid “concentration of power to one man”.
“Has the government forgotten about constitutional reforms?” Sim asked, adding that the government was heading towards “dark days”.