Khairul Firdaus
KOTA KINABALU (Aug 1): Bersatu Sabah information chief Khairul Firdaus Akbar Khan suggested that there be a time limit to the Prime Minister’s term in office so as to avoid any abuse of power.
Firdaus pointed out that in the instance of Sabah, it has been proposed to the State Legislative Assembly that the Chief Minister’s term in office be limited to two terms.
“The same thing is also necessary for the position of the Prime Minister because the Prime Minister and Chief Minister are the highest leaders in the country and state, it is appropriate that these positions have a time limit because we want to avoid abuse of power as the quality of service to the people needs to be maintained and prioritized,” he said.
Khairul Firdaus opined that if there is no limit to the term of office, new ideas from new leaders will be stunted, hindered, unable to be realized.
“And even worse, various negative impacts will also arise later which will discredit the name and system of government in our own country,” he claimed.
According to Khairul Firdaus, setting a limit for the duration of holding a position in government is also necessary because it is seen as more pragmatic.
“This will be more pragmatic for the country, more practical and more realistic because logically, an individual (in position) will have a certain period of time to implement a program or project which could be affected when too much time has passed.
“For example, in the aspect of government, when someone is in a certain position for too long, there is the possibility of problems such as misconduct,” he said, adding that there are however those who are consistent and remain excellent in shouldering the responsibilities they are entrusted.
Khairul Firdaus also claimed that in reality, people nowadays find it difficult and rather complicated to put their trust in politicians who hold positions of power.
“In our country various issues have cropped up and we are aware that sometimes these are out of control, for example our efforts to restore our economy which was severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“However, at the same time, there are several incidents involving our political ‘actors’ which have become a cause of concern for people at the grassroots level. The people are struggling to make a living and to put food on the table for their family but the political actors seem to be unaffected,” he claimed.
“This is why a time limit needs to be set for the leadership (as) we want a mechanism to curb problems like this,” he said in a statement on Monday.
Khairul Firdaus also said that if no new action or mechanism is implemented and carried out, it is not impossible that various problems will arise in the future which will certainly be a burden to the country and the people.
“We need to go down to the ground and to find out the issues affecting the rakyat so that we can find ways to resolve them. This is not the time for us to become the topic of conversation of foreign countries as a country which seems to ignore the people’s problems.
“We need to act immediately,” said Khairul Firdaus.