KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 13): The government is open to signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with any Opposition party that is agreeable to achieving political stability and transformation in the country.

Communications and Multimedia Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa said he believed that the MoU on Political Stability and Transformation signed by the Federal Government and Pakatan Harapan (PH) today would be followed by similar cooperation with other Opposition parties.

“Actually, we believe that it will be followed by other parties in the Opposition because we still have Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan), Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang), Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (MUDA) and independent lawmakers.

“This agreement is not exclusively with PH. We have also consented that the details agreed with PH can be shared with others who share the same view, so a similar action will be taken by the government,” he said in an audio recording shared on WhatsApp.

He stressed that the MoU would not prevent the opposition from playing their roles because it’s not a new political alignment or unity government, instead it was a method of cooperation where there was common ground between the Opposition and the government to get a majority in Parliament.

He explained that the MoU was formed as a result of an exchange of views and thoughts on various aspects, but with the same spirit based on the concept of inclusivity offered by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

“From there, a number of cooperation frameworks have emerged based on the scopes that have been mutually agreed by both sides,” he said.

The six-point MoU, a form of bipartisan cooperation which upholds the spirit of the Malaysian Family, covers the areas of strengthening the plan to fight Covid-19, the transformation of the administration, Parliamentary reforms, ensuring judicial independence, the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) and formation of a steering committee.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah said the agreement was a new political element towards a more mature democracy for the benefit of the people and to highlight policies as well as to reduce differences between political opponents.

“Hopefully this development will bring a cleaner and fresher political culture,” he tweeted.

Happy with the development, he explained that the MoU was a very important milestone in Malaysia’s political journey through the practice of bipartisan consultation between the government and the Opposition.