KUCHING: A term limit should be introduced for office bearers and elected representatives.
Former chief justice Tan Sri Richard Malanjum said this should be among the reforms in the electoral system to uphold democracy in the future.
“We need to limit the term of elected leaders, honourable members (YBs) should have two terms at most, so he must do his best.
“If we have a YB for five terms, there will be no fresh ideas, he will do the same thing over and over again for ten to twenty years of his career.
“He will become a YB until he dies. So, there must be a limit to the term of political officers or office bearers,” he said in a webinar organised by The Sarawak Initiatives (TSI) on Saturday (Aug 21).
Malanjum also called for a check on the culture of jumping between parties as it could undermine the democratic system and rule of law in the country.
“If this culture continues, I fear that the rule of law and democracy in this country will be history, this is important as the culture of crossing over breeds greed and corruption.
“This leads to the decay of human values and erodes integrity. We need to teach the younger generation on (avoiding) this,” he said.
Meanwhile, the veteran lawyer said political parties that are currently in the government should not be allowed to use government machinery during election times.
“It will not be fair to the other side. If we want a fair election, it must be a level playing ground.
“The institutions and the civil service should not be used during election times by the caretaker government, this is important,” he said.
He added, similarly, the voting age has to be reduced so that those aged 18 and above can cast their votes at the ballot boxes.
“Automatic voter registration should also be implemented as at the moment, we need to queue to register as voters,” he said.
