AP, Putrajaya :
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad defended his government’s record on the anniversary of its election victory Thursday and reiterated he will hand over power to his successor Anwar Ibrahim though he wasn’t clear on when. Mahathir’s four-party alliance ousted the coalition that has been in power since independence in 1957 amid anger over then-leader Najib Razak’s massive financial scandal and the rising cost of living. But euphoria over the victory has faded and the new government has been accused of backsliding on reform promises in its election manifesto.
Mahathir told foreign journalists there had been hiccups in pushing through some reforms due to insufficient support in parliament for constitutional changes. “The manifesto is for five years, not for one year, so we are working on that… there are some promises that have been delayed because of legal problems. For example, certain changes we want to make require some changes in the constitution. For that we need a two-thirds majority” in parliament, he said. Last year, the opposition-controlled senate rejected a bill to repeal a fake news ban rushed through parliament by the previous government ahead of elections. Attempts to abolish capital punishment faltered, and instead courts were given the power to decide whether to impose the death penalty only on some offenses.
The government has also withdrawn plans to ratify a U.N. anti-discrimination treaty and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court after coming under pressure from the majority Muslim opposition.
Despite the challenges, Mahathir said his untested alliance of four parties had managed the country well, focusing on ferreting out corruption and cleaning up huge debts caused by the multibillion-dollar looting of the 1MDB state investment fund and expensive infrastructure projects.
