Fed govt to study ERC recommendations before making report public

Parliament of Malaysia crest. - file pic

By Adrian Lim

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 14: The federal government is looking into the 49 recommendations by the Electoral Reform Committee (ERC) before the report on the improvement on the electorate is made public.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan said the recommendation of the ERC also involved changes to the management of various government ministries and agencies besides improvement on the electoral process of the country.

As a result, Takiyuddin said the federal government needs time to review each recommendation one by one for evaluation and to find out which is a priority and its feasibility.

“The government requires time to evaluate, get opinions and feedback from several agencies especially important bodies such as the Election Commission (EC).

“Thus, ERC has listed out an action plan to be implemented in phases.

“One of the proposals by the ERC is to set up a coordination and monitoring committee to monitor the action plan of various government ministries,” he said in Parliament today.

He said this when replying to Kota Melaka MP Khoo Poay Tiong who asked if the government would make public the ERC report and its findings.

Takiyuddin said the Perikatan Nasional (PN) federal government is committed to implement the electoral reform for the benefit of the people.

He added each measure implemented by the federal government must provide value-added to the people in particular their standard of living.

Takiyuddin revealed that the studies on the improvement of the country’s electoral system by the ERC for two years was completed in August 2020.

He noted a report which contained 49 recommendations on the improvement on election process, system, and law was made by ERC.

He said Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has also received the recommendations of the ERC report.

Takiyuddin said a special committee comprising Federal Cabinet members led by Senior Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Azmin Ali will look into the recommendations and identify which recommendation is important and can be implemented. — DayakDaily