KUALA LUMPUR, April 5 -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has openly backed a proposal to cap the Malaysian prime minister's tenure at two terms or 10 years.

DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke, who mooted the idea at the party's national congress last week, urged Anwar to push for the reform within the next two years.

To date, only two of Malaysia's 10 prime ministers have served for more than 10 years: the country's first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman (1955-1969) and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who holds the record as the longest-serving prime minister with 22 years in office during his first tenure (1981-2003).

How did the idea come about?

Setting a two-term limit for the prime minister has long been a pledge of the Pakatan ...