Published: 19 November 2015 4:10 PM
DAP lawmaker Teh Yee Cheu was literally left standing alone in the state assembly sitting today when without notice, he tried to table a motion for a study on a limit on the number of terms a chief minister can serve in Penang.
The Tanjung Bungah assemblyman had wanted to push for a study to be conducted on setting a term limit for the chief minister’s office, as well as a date to be fixed for general election.
"I feel research should be done on this to amend the state constitution and I leave it to the state assembly members' conscience to decide on this," he said, when he stood up to submit his motion immediately after state housing exco Jagdeep Singh Deo (DAP-Datuk Keramat) concluded his winding-up speech.
Speaker Datuk Law Choo Kiang then asked those who supported Teh's motion to stand up, but everyone, even the opposition backbenchers from Barisan Nasional, remained seated, causing the motion to be dismissed.
Ten backbenchers are needed to support a motion for it to be tabled for debate.
It was the first time Teh had tried to table a motion for the proposal, which he has been pushing for several years now.
He said he was merely calling for research to be conducted to determine whether his proposal was viable.
"I have not even submitted a motion to amend the state constitution yet," he said.
Teh said he wanted Penang to lead with such reforms, adding that he feels the same term limit should also extend to the prime minister and menteri besar’s offices.
Now that it has been rejected, he said he would properly table a motion in the next assembly sitting to have it on record that he tried.
Yesterday, Teh's proposal was shot down by party colleagues Wong Hon Wai (DAP-Air Itam) and R.S.N. Rayer (DAP-Seri Delima), who argued that it was not suitable.
Rayer said limiting the terms of service would deny a good leader the chance to serve and deliver, especially if he was young and had more years to give the state and people.
Wong criticised Teh's examples of countries that limited the terms of their prime ministers, saying that they were not good examples and some were facing internal political crises. – November 19, 2015.
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/citynews/georgetown/article/dap-man-stands-alone-in-bid-for-term-limit-for-chief-ministers-office/dap-man-stands-alone-in-bid-for-term-limit-for-chief-ministers-office
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