Malaysian Prime Minister pledged to introduce term-limit legislation, delivering on a long-promised campaign pledge as he looks to regain support from his key voter base.
Anwar said he would propose to parliament that prime ministers can only serve ten years or two full five-year terms, as part of a slew of legislative reforms planned for 2026.
“Everyone has their term limits,” Anwar said in his new year’s address to the prime minister’s department in the administrative capital Putrajaya on Monday. “If we give someone a term limit and they can carry out their duties, then it’s better that we then hand over the role to the next generation.”
The changes would prevent a repeat of the long incumbencies seen in Malaysia in the past. Mahathir Mohamad, ruled for 22 years until 2003 before he returned for a second term — aged 92 — in 2018. Malaysia’s first prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, led the country for about 13 years, while Najib Razak — who has since been jailed — had been premier for nine years when he lost a 2018 election seeking a third term.
Anwar said he will also seek parliament’s approval to separate the powers of the attorney-general and the public prosecutor, introduce a freedom of information law and create an ombudsmen office. Those were all pledges that his Pakatan Harapan coalition had made ahead of the 2022 general election that brought him to power.