No expiry date for govt-PH MoU, says Annuar

The government’s memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Pakatan Harapan (PH) has no “expiry date”, Communications and Multimedia Minister Annuar Musa says.

Annuar, who was part of the committee on the negotiation and implementation of the MoU, said the deal had instead stated that the government and PH agreed not to hold the 15th general election (GE15) before July 31.

“The MoU has no expiry date, many who misunderstand need to be corrected. What was agreed was that GE15 cannot be held before July 31.

“But the MoU with the MPs, including the opposition, with the government, specifically the prime minister (Ismail Sabri Yaakob) has no expiry date, and the MoU provides for backing for the PM until Parliament is dissolved.

“Upon dissolution, it’s up to the prime minister and the leadership to decide,” he told reporters in Kota Kinabalu last night.

On Sept 13, 2021, the federal government and PH had inked an MoU to establish bipartisan cooperation covering the areas of strengthening the plan to fight Covid-19, transformation of the administration, parliamentary reforms, ensuring judicial independence, the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and the formation of a steering committee.

Asked for a suitable date for the dissolution of Parliament and the holding of GE15, Annuar said it shouldn’t be so late that it gave Barisan Nasional (BN) opponents an advantage, and not so early that the party itself was not sufficiently prepared.

“It will be held when we are ready. The party leadership will decide when that will be.

“Preparation is in terms of organisation, data collation, funding and the situation the people are in. If we do it (hold GE15) when the people are suffering, we won’t feel happy… all these have to be studied in detail,” he said.

Earlier this week, Ismail said he would not delay even for a second the dissolution of Parliament to make way for GE15 if BN was ready.