By Mohsin Abdullah

So the Perikatan National government has pulled back the bill to amend the Federal Constitution in order to set a two-term limit for the prime minister's post!

In short, the bill to set a two-term limit for the PM's post has been withdrawn.

De facto law minister Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan made the move in accordance with the government's power under the Standing Orders to withdraw bills.

Yes, the government is allowed to do that under the laws and regulations, but for whatever reasons to withdraw the said bill, I'd say it's a step backwards.

Many mature and emerging democracies the world over have a two-term limit to prevent abuse of power and corruption at the highest level of government.

The bill, as we know, was tabled by the Pakatan Harapan government last December. It sought to amend Clause 2 (a) of Article 43 of the Federal Constitution to ensure that a prime minister could not serve more than two terms of Parliament.

And former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had also said there were plans to set a two-term limit for menteris besar and chief ministers.

Now that the bill has been withdrawn, I take it to mean that a prime minister can sit in office for as long as he wants, barring any unforeseen circumstances.

That is not good! That was why when Pakatan Harapan made the two-term PM tenure one of its milestone promises in its election manifesto back in 2018, a big number of Malaysians supported it.

A political observer concurs that it was a salient point in the Pakatan Harapan manifesto which received a lot of support from voters.

"Perikatan Nasional's move to dismantle that pledge will obviously benefit Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and others in Umno and PAS who aspire the coveted position," says the observer.

Removing the term limit, he says, will give the current prime minister and his successors more leeway to consolidate the political patronage for themselves now that the legal limit on their tenures in office has been removed.

"In other words," according to the observer, "without the two-term limit also means the gravy train for the prime minister's supporters will continue to roll until his fate is determined by other means, not by a two-term limit."

As the observer sees it, the move to withdraw the bill will further dent Perikatan Nasional's image, which I agree.

That bill apart, the government has also withdrawn the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC ) bill.

The IPCMC was first proposed by the 2004 Royal Commission of Inquiry to enhance the operation and management of the Royal Malaysian Police. The proposal was made during the premiership of then Datuk Seri (now Tun) Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

The Perikatan Nasional government has also decided that local elections will not be reintroduced.

As I see it, we're back to where we started!

(Mohsin Abdullah is a veteran journalist and now a freelancer who writes about this, that and everything else.)