PH-Government MoU (CSA)
In September 2021 a sitting Malaysian government and the opposition coalition signed a written agreement trading parliamentary support for a list of political reforms.
What happened
On 13 September 2021, a month after Ismail Sabri Yaakob became Prime Minister, his government signed a written agreement with the opposition Pakatan Harapan coalition called the Memorandum of Understanding on Transformation and Political Stability. The trade at its centre was straightforward.
- Pakatan Harapan
- agreed to support or abstain on measures that would count as a confidence question against the Prime Minister, including Budget 2022, provided such matters were negotiated with the opposition first
- The government
- agreed, in return, not to seek a dissolution of Parliament before 31 July 2022 and to pursue a list of institutional reforms
Pakatan Harapan did not join the cabinet; its secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution said the coalition would stay in the opposition and would not take part in executive functions.
The reform list was specific. It included:
- tabling and passing an anti-party-hopping bill in the next sitting
- expediting automatic voter registration with the voting age lowered to 18
- a constitutional amendment capping the Prime Minister's tenure at two terms or ten years
- a Parliamentary Services Bill to restore Parliament's administrative and financial independence
- amendments to the Standing Orders
- more balanced select committee representation
- equal allowances and constituency allocations for all MPs
A joint steering committee of five government and five opposition MPs was to meet fortnightly to oversee delivery.
Delivery was partial, and the two headline items arrived by different routes:
- 3 September 2021A Kuching High Court decision, ten days before the MoU was signed, quashed the deferral of Undi18 and automatic voter registration and ordered, by mandamus, that the necessary steps be taken by 31 December 2021.
- 15 December 2021Undi18 and automatic voter registration took effect under a commencement notification signed on 25 November.
- 28 July 2022The anti-party-hopping amendment, the Constitution (Amendment) (No. 3) Act 2022, passed the Dewan Rakyat with 209 votes.
- 5 October 2022The anti-party-hopping amendment came into force.
Money moved too: from the final quarter of 2021 constituency allocations were equalised for MPs on both sides, and Tricia Yeoh later recorded opposition signatory parties receiving RM600,000 for 2021 and RM1.5 million for 2022.
On 29 July 2022 Pakatan Harapan's presidential council put the score at 15 of 18 items done, or 83.3 per cent, with the prime-ministerial term limit, the Parliamentary Services Bill and the Standing Orders amendments left over.
Those three outlasted the agreement:
- 14 July 2025The Parliamentary Services Act 2025 received royal assent, under the government that followed.
- 12 August 2025The Standing Orders were amended, under the government that followed.
- 2 March 2026The Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2026 drew 146 votes, two short of the 148 a constitutional amendment needs.
- 6 July 2026As of Azalina Othman Said's remarks, a fresh attempt was being framed as a decision yet to be taken.
The term limit has still not passed. None of this was delivery under the MoU, which had expired in 2022; it is what became of the items the MoU left unfinished.
Whether either side kept its word is disputed, and the dispute ran through the agreement's life. Anwar Ibrahim said in October 2021, weeks after signing, that the government was dragging its feet and that none of the listed reforms had been implemented; Ismail Sabri said that same month that the MoU had lowered political temperature and had a positive effect.
In March 2022, after the opposition called a bloc vote that defeated a government motion to extend a Sosma provision, Communications and Multimedia Minister Annuar Musa said the vote had cancelled the MoU and called it a blessing in disguise. Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said it had not, pointing to the clause requiring prior discussion of such motions, and DAP's position was that PH was bound only on budget matters and bills touching the Prime Minister's position.
From the government benches the complaint ran the other way as well: Johor Umno deputy chairman Nur Jazlan Mohamed said at the end of July 2022 that Pakatan Harapan had treated a political ceasefire as cover to campaign against Barisan Nasional while avoiding an early dissolution.
The electoral reform coalition Bersih had welcomed the MoU on signing while pressing for transparency about its text and its committee.
The agreement was not renewed. Ismail Sabri said in April 2022 he would follow the Umno Supreme Council's decision against extension, and in late July he said both sides agreed a new MoU was unnecessary; Anwar had argued days earlier that the MoU did not simply end on 31 July because reforms remained outstanding. Parliament was dissolved on 10 October 2022, after the no-dissolution period had lapsed, and GE15 followed.
What the sources say
The signing
The Memorandum of Understanding on Transformation and Political Stability was signed on 13 September 2021 between the federal government, led by Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, and the Pakatan Harapan coalition.
Ismail Sabri signed for the government; PKR president Anwar Ibrahim, Amanah president Mohamad Sabu, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and Upko president Wilfred Madius Tangau signed for Pakatan Harapan.
The MoU was organised around six areas: strengthening the Covid-19 response, administrative transformation, parliamentary reform, judicial independence, implementation of the Malaysia Agreement 1963, and the establishment of a joint steering committee.
What the document committed to
Pakatan Harapan undertook to support or abstain on bills that would amount to a confidence question against the Prime Minister, including Budget 2022, on the condition that such matters were first negotiated and agreed in principle with the opposition — the confidence-and-supply core of the agreement.
The government undertook not to propose the dissolution of Parliament before 31 July 2022.
The MoU committed the parties to table and pass an anti-party-hopping bill in the next sitting of Parliament.
The MoU committed to expediting automatic voter registration with the minimum voting age reduced to 18 (Undi18).
The MoU committed to a constitutional amendment limiting the Prime Minister to two terms, a maximum of 10 years.
Other parliamentary-reform commitments included a Parliamentary Services Bill to restore the administrative and financial independence of Parliament, amendments to the Standing Orders, more balanced representation on special select committees, and equal allowances and constituency allocations for all MPs together with facilities for the Opposition Leader.
Implementation was to be overseen by a joint steering committee of five government and five opposition MPs, meeting fortnightly.
Pakatan Harapan did not enter the executive; its secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution said PH would remain in its role as the opposition and would not take part in executive functions.
What was actually delivered
Undi18 and automatic voter registration came into force on 15 December 2021, under a commencement notification appointing that date for section 3 of the Constitution (Amendment) Act 2019, signed by the Chief Secretary to the Government Mohd Zuki Ali on 25 November 2021.
That commencement followed a court order made ten days before the MoU was signed. On 3 September 2021 the Kuching High Court, before Judicial Commissioner Alexander Siew How Wai, held that the government and the Election Commission had acted illegally and irrationally in deferring implementation past September 2022; he granted a certiorari order quashing that decision and a mandamus order requiring the necessary steps to be taken for section 3 to come into operation by 31 December 2021.
The Constitution (Amendment) (No. 3) Act 2022, the anti-party-hopping amendment, was passed by the Dewan Rakyat on 28 July 2022 with 209 votes in favour, received royal assent on 31 August 2022, was gazetted on 6 September 2022, and came into force on 5 October 2022.
The allocations commitment produced money for opposition MPs. On 23 September 2021 Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Special Functions) Mastura Mohd Yazid said all MPs, government and opposition alike, would receive equal constituency allocations for the final four months of 2021.
Writing in 2024, Tricia Yeoh recorded that under the MoU equal constituency development funds were guaranteed for the signing parties, with opposition parties that had signed receiving RM600,000 for 2021 and RM1.5 million for 2022; her account frames the guarantee as running to the signatories rather than to every opposition MP.
On 29 July 2022, the day after the anti-hopping bill passed, the Pakatan Harapan presidential council said 15 of the 18 items agreed in the MoU had been carried out, or 83.3 per cent. It named the three outstanding items as the constitutional amendment capping the Prime Minister's tenure, the Parliamentary Services Bill, and the amendments to the Standing Orders.
End of the agreement
15 April 2022
On 15 April 2022 Ismail Sabri said he would abide by the Umno Supreme Council's decision not to extend the MoU beyond its 31 July 2022 expiry.
27 July 2022
On 27 July 2022 Ismail Sabri said the government and the opposition had agreed a new MoU was not needed.
10 October 2022
Parliament was dissolved on 10 October 2022, after the MoU's no-dissolution period had lapsed, and GE15 followed within the constitutional 60-day window.
The three outstanding items, after the MoU lapsed
The Parliamentary Services Bill 2025 was passed by the Dewan Rakyat on 5 March 2025 and received royal assent on 14 July 2025 as the Parliamentary Services Act 2025; Speaker Johari Abdul announced the assent in the House, saying Parliament would exist as an independent entity able to function without being bound by instructions from the executive, and that the enforcement date would be announced by the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform). A constitutional amendment passed by the Dewan Rakyat on 4 March 2025 had first been required to make way for the Bill.
On 12 August 2025 the Dewan Rakyat approved, by majority voice vote, a motion tabled by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Azalina Othman Said amending the Standing Orders. The stated aims included raising executive accountability to the House, elevating Special Select Committees to Standing Select Committees, and aligning the Standing Orders with the Parliamentary Services Act 2025.
The prime-ministerial term limit has not been enacted. On 2 March 2026 the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2026, which would have capped any person's tenure as Prime Minister at an aggregate of ten years, was defeated at second reading in the Dewan Rakyat: 146 members voted in favour against a two-thirds threshold of 148, with 44 abstentions and 32 absent.
The government said in March 2026 it would bring the Bill back in the June sitting, and in June 2026 the term limit was listed among the major items for the sitting that began on 22 June. Speaking on 6 July 2026, Azalina Othman Said still described the March defeat as the outcome, said the Bill should have gone to a select committee first, and framed a fresh attempt conditionally: "If we decide to bring the Bill back, we have to restart the process."
These three measures were pursued years after the MoU expired, by a different government.
The MoU provided for fortnightly or mutually agreed joint steering-committee meetings, but no published meeting record or minutes have been located.
For the final four months of 2021, the government announced equal allocations for all MPs, not only Pakatan Harapan signatories; a DAP page describes RM500,000 in outright grants and RM1 million for Projek Mesra Rakyat per MP, without a complete recipient-by-recipient government ledger.
No public record has been located showing another confidence-related vote formally referred to Pakatan Harapan under the MoU consultation condition; this does not establish that private consultation did not occur.
searched: MoU text, Parliament records, and contemporaneous reporting
Where accounts differ
Whether Pakatan Harapan breached the MoU by calling a bloc vote that defeated the government motion to extend subsection 4(5) of Sosma on 23 March 2022 (defeated 86-84, with 50 MPs absent): Communications and Multimedia Minister Annuar Musa said the opposition's action had cancelled the MoU, citing the clause under which Pakatan Harapan agreed to support or stay neutral on government motions, and called it "a blessing in disguise" because the Prime Minister could now cancel or suspend the MoU's implementation.
Against that, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the MoU was not terminated by the Sosma defeat, citing paragraph 3.3(b) requiring prior discussion and agreement on such motions; DAP's position was that PH MPs were bound only on budget matters and bills bearing on the Prime Minister's position.
Whether the government moved on its reform obligations: on 6 October 2021, about three weeks after signing, Anwar Ibrahim said the government was dragging its feet and that none of the listed reforms had been implemented; he repeated in October 2021 that the government had not shown commitment to reform after signing.
From the Umno side, Johor Umno deputy chairman and former Pulai MP Nur Jazlan Mohamed said on 31 July 2022 that Pakatan Harapan had used the MoU for its own political advantage ahead of GE15: that the agreement was meant as a political ceasefire but the coalition had taken the opportunity to attack Barisan Nasional, and that its MPs wanted to stay in office and feared an early dissolution.
Ismail Sabri's own characterisation, stated in October 2021, was that the MoU had reduced political temperature and had a positive impact.
Whether the MoU ended on 31 July 2022 at all: Anwar said on 20 July 2022 that the MoU did not end on that date because PH was still pursuing outstanding reforms, while Umno leaders treated the expiry as final.
Civil society assessment at the time of signing: the electoral reform coalition Bersih welcomed the MoU while calling for the text and the steering committee's work to be transparent and inclusive.
Common questions
What was the PH-government MoU in 2021?
It was an agreement between Ismail Sabri Yaakob's federal government and Pakatan Harapan, signed on 13 September 2021, to exchange parliamentary support on confidence-related matters for political and institutional reforms. It covered Covid-19 response, administrative and parliamentary reform, judicial independence, Malaysia Agreement 1963 implementation, and a joint steering committee.
Did PH join the government after signing the MoU?
No. Pakatan Harapan said it would remain the opposition and would not take part in executive functions. Its commitment was to support or abstain on bills that would amount to a confidence question against the Prime Minister, including Budget 2022, provided the matters had first been negotiated and agreed in principle with the opposition.
Could Parliament be dissolved while the MoU was in force?
Not before 31 July 2022 under the government's undertaking in the MoU. Parliament was later dissolved on 10 October 2022, after that period had lapsed, with GE15 to follow within the constitutional 60-day window.
Did the MoU lead to Undi18 and the anti-hopping law?
Both were MoU commitments and later took effect, although Undi18's commencement also followed a court order made before the agreement was signed. Undi18 and automatic voter registration came into force on 15 December 2021. The anti-party-hopping constitutional amendment passed the Dewan Rakyat on 28 July 2022 and came into force on 5 October 2022.
Were all the MoU reforms completed before it expired?
No. On 29 July 2022, Pakatan Harapan's presidential council said 15 of the 18 agreed items had been carried out, naming the Prime Minister's term limit, the Parliamentary Services Bill, and Standing Orders amendments as outstanding. The Parliamentary Services Act later received royal assent in 2025 and the Standing Orders were amended that year, but the proposed ten-year term limit was defeated at second reading in March 2026.
Did the Sosma vote cancel the MoU?
The parties' representatives gave different answers. After the opposition bloc vote defeated a motion to extend a Sosma provision in March 2022, Annuar Musa said it had cancelled the MoU. Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said it had not, citing the requirement for prior discussion and agreement, while DAP said PH MPs were bound only on budget matters and bills bearing on the Prime Minister's position.
Still open
- Which MPs received the 2021 equalised allocations, according to a complete official recipient-by-recipient ledger.
- The legal status of the MoU — whether it created any obligation enforceable in court, and under what law — has not been settled by any court judgment or academic treatment.