Date: 10 June 2009
MEDIA STATEMENT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
On Saturday, 13th June, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (KEADILAN) will hold an Extraordinary National Congress (Kongres Nasional Khas) to discuss and approve some far-reaching amendments to its current party constitution.
Amongst the proposed amendments are a proposal is to transfer and broaden the right to elect national leaders (including Youth and Women wings) from delegates at the National Congress to ordinary members of the Party who now number about 300,000. This move is to strengthen the practice of democracy within the party and to move the party in line with practice in mature democracies. It also reaffirms and underscores KEADILAN’s commitment to democratic reform and change at the national level of politics. Such a step will also help reduce and eliminate any unhealthy tendencies towards money politics and phantom branches as we have seen in some political parties in Malaysia. If this amendment is approved, KEADILAN will be the first large political party in Malaysia to allow its members to decide the national leadership.
Further changes to strengthen democratic practice within the party are an amendment to limit the term of the President to three terms or nine years. The creation of an independent election supervising structure down to division level and also institutionalising the practice of secret balloting are also in the proposals. These will also strengthen the practice of democracy within the party.
The Youth wing is being revamped with an amendment to bring down the qualifying age to 35 years and below from the current limit of below 40 years. Its implementation, if approved, will however be staggered – with immediate effect for all appointed positions at all levels and overall implementation in the election year after the next i.e. is expected to be 2013 or earlier. This brings our Youth wing in line with internationally accepted standards for the definition of youth and to ensure that our youth wing leaders and membership reflect the aspirations of those 35 and below.
There is also an amendment to reflect the commitment of the party to strengthen the leadership of women in the party with a new clause that the party will implement a policy to ensure that at least 30 % of the leadership positions at all levels are occupied by women. Again, this will be ground-breaking as no other party has such an express commitment.
As KEADILAN is now possibly the only truly national party with organised structures in at least 190 divisions including Sabah and Sarawak, we are also modifying our party leadership structure to reflect our current role in national politics. For example, we are increasing our number of Vice Presidents from five to seven so that there is more scope for representation. Similar changes are being made for the Youth and Women’s wing. The state committees are also being modified for more flexibility.
We are also taking the opportunity to rebrand the terms used in the party structure to reflect terms that are progressive, and more egalitarian and to move away from terms associated with traditional party structures and feudal connotations. So “bahagian” will now be known as “cabang”, “cawangan” as “ranting”, “majlis pimpinan tertinggi” as “majlis pimpinan pusat” and “perhubungan negeri” as “majlis pimpinan negeri”.
Finally, we are streamlining the constitution to improve the administration of the party at all levels, enhance accountability and transparency, and also ensure that our internal discipline mechanisms are efficient and implemented fairly and justly.
SIVARASA RASIAH
Vice-President, Parti Keadilan Rakyat
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