Cabinet on Wednesday should resolve to make July/August Parliament a historic “Reform Parliament”
The Cabinet at its meeting on Wednesday should resolve to make the July/August meeting of Parliament a historic “Reform Parliament”.
It should instruct and empower the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar to make the 14-day meeting of Parliament from July 18 to August 4, 2022 a historic Reform Parliament by taking a number of measures.
Firstly, put on the statute books several reform legislation like the ban on party hopping and the abolition of mandatory penalty.
Secondly, give a commitment that
- Parliament will not be dissolved for the 15th General Election until the Royal Assent is given for the abolition of the mandatory death penalty;
- Make public the Richard Malanjum Report on the Alternative Punishments to the Mandatory Death Penalty;
- no death sentence will be carried out while the government is studying alternative sentences for the over 2,000 convicts on the death row for 11 offences that carried the mandatory death penalty.
Thirdly, act on the Yang di Pertuan Agong’s advice to formulate a long-term plan to ensure that Malaysia can achieve its aspiration to be a world-class great nation by returning to the nation-building principles our founding fathers have agreed in the Malaysian Constitution and Rukun Negara – constitutional monarchy, parliamentary democracy, separation of powers, rule of law, good governance, public integrity, respect for human rights and national unity from our multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-cultural diversity where there are no first-class and second-class citizens whether based on race, religion or region.
Fourthly, ensure that Malaysia does not become a failed state any time in the future by reviewing why Vision 2020 failed to achieve its nine strategic challenges to create a Bangsa Malaysia and why the Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013-2025 (MEB) failed to spearhead educational transformation of the country.
The Malaysian Education Blueprint, which cost the country RM20 million as it was contracted out to McKinsey and Co, was an utter flop as illustrated by its failure to realise its objective for Malaysia to be above global average and be in top one-third of countries in international educational standards in global assessments like Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and (Trends in international Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) by 2025.
All indications point to Malaysia to be solidly in the lowest one-third bloc of the world in 2025 as illustrated by PISA 2012, 2015 and 2018 and TIMSS 2011, 2015 and 2019.
The MEB was formulated to deal with the adverse performance of Malaysian students in the quadrennial 2007 TIMSS and triennial 2009 PISA, resulting in the policy statement that the 13-year MEB will catapult Malaysia in a triple “hop-step-jump” from the bottom-third to the top-third of PISA and TIMSS systems by the following decade, viz:
*Wave 1 (2013-2015) to achieve a “turn-around” of the system of deteriorating educational standards;
*Wave 2 (2016-2020) where Malaysia’s performance will be at par with the international average of PISA and TIMSS benchmarks; and
*Wave 3 (2021-2025) where Malaysia’s performance on PISA and TIMSS will be in the top third of PISA and TIMSS assessments.
But the first two waves of MEB proved to be mere “hot air” as illustrated by the results of PISA 2012, 2015, 2018 and TIMSS 2011, 2015, 2019, which showed there will be no “third wave” as Malaysia’s performance on PISA and TIMMS in 2025 will not be in the top third but solidly in the bottom third of PISA and TIMSS assessments.
There is a possibility for the Malaysian Parliament to be a historic “Reform Parliament” in its July/August meeting.
The question is whether this opportunity will be grasped for Malaysia to show the world that Malaysia is bouncing back post-pandemic.