MP SPEAKS | Parliament has regressed instead of reforming

MP SPEAKS | The Dewan Rakyat has concluded its final session for the year, during which all eyes were on Budget 2021 and the instability of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government. To the disappointment of many, Budget 2021 was eventually passed, and the unelected PN government continues to be in power.

That aside, I am more appalled by how Parliament was conducted. Below, I highlight some of the failings which happened in the last Parliament session. Parliament has, in my opinion, regressed tremendously under the PN government and the new speaker, Azhar Azizan Harun.

1. Arbitrary shortening of Parliament sitting

On the first day of the sitting, MPs were told that they would only convene until 1pm as a precaution against Covid-19. The government and speaker insisted this was necessary on the advice of the Health Ministry. This was later amended to 2pm, and only 80 MPs were allowed to be in the hall at a given time.

In effect, many MPs were denied sufficient time to speak, not just during the budget debate, but also during the questions for oral answers. This has weakened the role of Parliament as a mechanism to scrutinise the government’s policies and actions.

However, I find it strange that the government and speaker had no issues in extending the parliamentary sitting to a much later time when they needed to. On some days, the sitting was extended to 5pm to enable the vote for the budget at the committee stage...