Abdullah Badawi had made it clear that he will be stepping down as Prime Minister in March 2009. He had also promised that he will be initiating some reforms that were sought after by the rakyat before he leaves office.
On 10 December, 6 Bills were tabled in the Dewan Rakyat out of which 2 were personally done so by Badawi, namely the Judicial Appointments Commission 2008 (JAC) Bill and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission 2008 (MACC) Bill. Given the significance of these 2 Bills alone, Parliament would normally have been given weeks, if not months, to debate the Bills before they were passed. Unfortunately this was not to be because, at the time, there were only 5 sitting days remaining of the parliamentary session for the rakyat to even try to do a fair job.
The rakyat felt that Badawi’s move to rush through these Bills in Parliament was an attempt by him to create and leave behind a legacy associated with his premiership. What made it worse and absurd in his hurry to make a name for himself was the fact that on 16 December
