PARTI Warisan Sabah (Warisan) will support any government bill that benefits the people without being signatory to the government-Pakatan Harapan memorandum of understanding (MOU) for reform, party president Mohd Shafie Apdal said.

The decision not to sign the MOU for transformation and political stability does not mean that Warisan did not care about the country or the people, the Semporna MP told the Dewan Rakyat today.

“We can still support the supply bill if the spending is good for the people,” Shafie said when debating the royal address.

He said Warisan was treading carefully on the matter of deals with the government to avoid embarrassment if the government failed.

“I don’t want (a situation where) if the government fails, I, who signed a memorandum (with the government), will be seen to also have failed,” he said.

On other important bills such as the anti-party hopping law Shafie said Warisan would read the bill before deciding whether to back it.

“What are the details? If a lawmaker party hops, will a by-eleciton be held? Will he be suspended and barred from politics got life… we want to know the bill’s contents first,” he said.

The MOU was signed between Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and PH party leaders in Parliament on Monday.

It covers strengthening of the Covid-19 plan, institutional transformation, parliamentary reforms, and the Malaysia Agreement 1963.

Three key reforms to be implemented before the middle of next year are the anti-party hopping law, the implementation of Undi18 and automatic voter registration, and to amend the Federal Constitution to limit the term of the prime minister to 10 years.

Under the agreed deal, Parliament will not be dissolved before July 31, 2022. The opposition will also continue its role as a checks and balances on the government will not change.

Warisan and Pejuang, although opposition parties, did not sign the memorandum. – September 15, 2021.