KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 18 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today called on Southeast Asian elected representatives to embrace public scrutiny, reminding them of their duty to serve voters.
Addressing the Inter-Asean Parliamentary Assembly here, Anwar said Prime Minister’s Question Time was introduced in Malaysia’s Parliament to make policy debates more transparent and encourage more democratic discourse.
“When we introduced in the last few years PM’s Question Time, I wasn’t sure if I made the right decision as I’m stuck there on a weekly basis,” Anwar quipped.
Prime Minister’s Question Time is an hour dedicated to the prime minister taking questions and answering them directly.
“But I think not withstanding our personal reflection and views on this, I must say it (makes for a) healthy discourse—it puts the prime minister and the government on guard. This gives real meaning and essence to what we call democratic accountability,” Anwar said.
“Democracy isn’t just about elections every four, five years. Democracy is about a system that would allow the ruling party to be questioned, criticised and assesssed by the people.”
MORE TO COME
