KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 7 (NNN-BERNAMA) – Malaysia’s parliament convened today (Monday), after a two-month adjournment, with the proposed abolition of the death penalty and the Defence White Paper, among other matters, high on the agenda.
Currently, the law provides for a mandatory death sentence for 11 offences under the country’s laws, including murder, armed robbery, waging war against the King, as well as, for illegal possession of firearms.
The abolition of the death penalty was one of several election promises made by the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government, led by Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, which won power during the general election in May last year.
The National Defence White Paper (DWP), meant to shape the direction of Malaysia’s defence policies and systems for the next 10 years, will also be tabled for parliament to review for the first time.
Deputy Defence Minister, Liew Chin Tong, said, the government would apply the whole-of-government and the whole-of-society approach, in formulating the DWP, so that all levels of society will understand their importance, and take joint responsibility.
Also to be tabled will be the national budget for 2020, detailing the 314.5 billion ringgit (75.14 billion U.S. dollars) earmarked for next year’s expenditure.
On the political balance, former ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), inked a formal pact for cooperation with Pan-Malaysia Islamic Party (PAS) in Sept, ending decades of political rivalry and posing a potential challenge to the incumbent government.
Azmi Hassan from University Technology Malaysia said, the pact would not have a significance on the balance of power in parliament, as the two parties had already cooperated in several by-elections since the national polls.
However, Azmi said, UMNO-PAS partnership could have an impact on the expected transition of power from Mahathir to his former deputy, Anwar Ibrahim, who said he expected to take over next year.
“Anwar Ibrahim has already said, next year will be his time to take over as prime minister, while PAS openly said, they prefer Mahathir for the full term. It should be interesting to observe UMNO’s stand, since as a political party, they never put out who they prefer,” he said.– NNN-BERNAMA