Term limit for PM: Accountability matters more than length of service, says analyst

KUALA LUMPUR: The proposal to limit Malaysia’s prime minister to two terms or 10 years has reignited debate over the current administration’s push for political reform, but a political analyst cautioned that the idea may be mismatched with Malaysia’s system of government.

Associate Professor Dr Azeem Fazwan Ahmad Farouk said the issue stems from a fundamental misunderstanding of different political systems.

He was commenting on yesterday’s deadline following a week-long government survey on limiting prime ministers to two terms or 10 years, after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim pledged to push for reforms including separating the powers of the Attorney-General and public prosecutor, setting up an ombudsman office, and introducing a freedom of information law. This week, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) M. Kulasegaran also spoke about the long-promised Political Financing Bill.

Azeem said these reforms should take priority over limiting a prime minister’s length of service, adding that institutional independence is essential to restoring public confidence.

“When you don’t use public institutions as a political tool, then you will have a good working system,” he said.

“The term limits appear more symbolic than substantive. If all the mechanisms needed to make the government more responsive and accountable are in place, then it doesn’t matter how long the executive is in office, because at the end of the day, the executive cannot do as he or she pleases.”

He stressed that the more pressing issue is how effectively power is constrained.

He added that there must be a clear demarcation between the role of the executive and the role of the legislature, as well as healthy checks and balances.

“That has to be in place before you talk about term limits,” he said.

Other smaller reforms, he suggested, could be implemented more easily.

“The prime minister shouldn’t be the finance minister. This is a small thing that can be done first and easily. This was a Pakatan Harapan pledge before coming into power,” said Azeem, referring to Anwar, who is also the finance minister.

“There are also questions of feasibility. Constitutional amendments require broad political consensus and careful design.

“For all intents and purposes, I don’t think there is enough time to carry out this reform (the two-term limit) before the next general election.”

Azeem said that without first fixing the structural weaknesses of the system, limiting the tenure of a prime minister may offer the appearance of reform without delivering its substance.

“The Westminster system is often contrasted with the presidential system,” he said.

“In a presidential system, there is a separation between the executive and the legislature. If you look at the Westminster system, the executive and the legislature are effectively the same.

“This distinction matters because term limits are a defining feature of presidential systems, where executive power is personal, fixed, and directly elected by the public.”

He added that Westminster systems rely on parliamentary confidence and collective responsibility as their primary accountability mechanisms.

“If you look at what’s happening globally, there is not a single country that uses the Westminster system and has the same limit. This is something new that we are actually venturing into,” he said.

He explained that Malaysia, like Singapore and Australia, inherited its political framework from the British parliamentary tradition. Other countries that use variants of the Westminster system include India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Malta, and Ireland.

In the Westminster system, the prime minister is not directly elected by voters but is chosen by members of parliament.

“In Malaysia, the members of the Dewan Rakyat choose the prime minister,” he said.

“Importing a presidential-style term limit risks addressing the wrong problem. Whether or not a term limit is suitable in a Westminster system is a big question mark.

“What model are we going to use?”