Pakatan Johor wants the state assembly to be reformed to empower it to function to its full responsibilities rather than to act as a hasty “rubber stamp” for the executive.

In a joint statement today, Johor PAS commissioner Aminolhuda Hassan, state DAP chairperson Liew Chin Tong and PKR deputy secretary Steven Choong said at present, the state assembly appears to be a “technical formality” only.

“...the state sitting for only one day gives the impression that the assembly is held purely to fulfil a technical requirement...

“This has strengthened the picture that the state assembly is only a rubber stamp for the executive body, where the desires of the executive are always fulfilled and the state assembly is only a process to see it passed,” they said.

However, they said, the state assembly’s function is broader than merely passing laws, as it exists to review the executive’s actions and acts to provide checks and balances.

Recent controversies in the state such as alleged plans for a casino in Johor, the relocation of the Orang Asli in Gunung Arong, Mersing, the ‘mysterious’ death of thousands of fish in Tanjung Kupang and others were proof that the people’s concerns deserve debate in the state assembly.

The trio thus recommended two major reforms in the state assembly, namely:

1. The official recognition of the position of the state assembly speaker and to allocate the appropriate resources to the speaker, in line with making the position official and not “decorative”.

2. State sittings should be extended to allow more time for debate. Holding the assembly over one day in practice leaves only a few hours and leaves the Dewan little time to function effectively.

They said such reforms could be easily facilitated by amending the state constitution.

With BN’s requisite majority of 38 reps and Pakatan’s 18 reps, amending the state constitution would pose little problem, they added.