LIMITING the tenure of the prime minister to 10 years can restrict the influence and power of the office holder, signalling a step towards good governance in the country, political analysts said.

However, the imposition of a term limit alone is insufficient to contain the culture of corruption and abuse of power, they said.
 
To stop bad practices, critics said the government should consider decentralising the power of the federal government.
 
International Islamic University of Malaysia’s Dr Tunku Mohar Tunku Mohd Mokhtar said that limiting the tenure can stop politicians from personalising power in the administration of the country.
 
“We can see that Dr Mahathir Mohamad, for example, who was a prime minister for more than 22 years, still thinks that nobody else is capable of leading the country’s administration,” he told The Malaysian Insight.
 
He said it is odd to limit the PM’s time in office to 10 years instead of two terms.
 
Malaysia holds a general election every five years. But it is common practice for an election to be called before the five years are up.
 
“In crafting the wording this way, it may mean that a new prime minister will be appointed mid-term, or at least before a particular prime minister’s term ends.
 
“The better alternative is to have the limit by two parliamentary terms so that the person to be prime minister reflects people’s choice in a general election,” Tunku Mohar said.
 
On Friday, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob offered the opposition seven parliamentary and governance reforms, which included limiting the tenure of the prime minister to 10 years.
 
The history of prime ministers in Malaysia

Only two leaders in Malaysian history have held the role of prime minister for more than 10 years.
 
The first being the founding father himself, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj, who served as prime minister for 13 years from August 31, 1957 to September 22, 1970.
 
Prior to that, from 1955 to 1957 – before the independence of Malaya – Tunku served as the chief minister of the Federation of Malaya under the British rule. 
 
After Tunku, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the fourth and seventh prime minister, served a total of 24 years as prime minister, the longest in Malaysian history.
 
Dr Mahathir’s first term as prime minister lasted for a good 23 years from July 16, 1981 to October 30, 2003 under the Barisan National government. 

He made a comeback in 2018 after aligning with opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan. 
 
His second term as prime minister was however short lived, serving for a mere 22 months from May 10, 2018 to February 2020, before he resigned and threw Malaysia into political instability.
 
Embattled former prime minister Najib Razak came close to serving 10 years as prime minister, but his loss at the 14th general election in 2018 denied him this opportunity.
 
Najib’s tenure in office lasted from April 3, 2009 to May 9, 2018. He is now facing multiple corruption charges in relation to sovereign wealth fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad.
 
Ten years – enough time to make changes

Ilham Centre director Hisommudin Bakar said ten years is more than enough time in office for a prime minister to effect policy changes for the betterment of the country.
 
“In 10 years, the prime minister can look at policies that need to be amended to give a positive impact for the people.
 
He added that limiting the tenure will not have an adverse effect on the development of the country.
 
“Look at our neighbours Indonesia, they have limited the term of the president to two terms and it has not affected good governance or the country’s political stability,” he said.
 
Hisommudin added that preventing corruption and abuse of power not only falls on the prime minister but is also dependent on members of Parliament as well as the civil service.
 
“There needs to be checks and balances in place to avoid such instances. The government also needs to be cautious in all aspects of governance so that they don’t court the anger of the people,” he said.

Limiting time in office not enough to stop abuse of power
 
Political analyst Oh Ei Sun said while limiting the term of the prime minister is a good start, it will not entirely prevent abuse and misuse of power.
 
“The only thing they can prevent is that the prime minister would not, hopefully, try to prolong his rule by undemocratic means.
 
“If there is a constitutional amendment limiting it to 10 years, then he will have to step down,” he told The Malaysian Insight.
 
This, in itself, will not solve the problem of corruption, Oh added.
 
“What you need to do is decentralise the political powers in Malaysia,” he said.
 
Oh said the decentralisation of political power can be done in two ways. 
 
“The federal government should devolve more powers to state and local governments (by) reinstituting local government elections, for example.
 
“Secondly, at the federal government itself, they need to decentralise powers away from the person and office of the prime minister so that other ministers and institutions could be empowered,” he said. – September 13, 2021.