Parliament to be closed during recovery MCO but July sitting to proceed

The Dewan Rakyat sitting in July will go on as scheduled, despite the recent announcement that Parliament will be closed to the public and visitors during the recovery movement control order (MCO) period.

In a posting on its official Twitter account yesterday, the Parliament office stated that the chambers would be closed to the public up to Aug 31 in line with the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 and Police Act 1967.

When contacted, it clarified to Malaysiakini that the closure did not apply to members of Parliament or for the coming sitting set to begin on July 13.

“The announcement is only directed at visitors and members of the public. Those with official business in Parliament can carry on as usual.

“This announcement is not new and is made in step with changes to the MCO (MCO, conditional MCO and recovery MCO).

“In other words, parliamentarians are not affected and this has no bearing on the July House sitting. The sitting will commence as usual,” the Parliament office said.

This was also confirmed by Science, Technology, and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin who tweeted his ministry was preparing the Space Bill for the coming session.

“Mosti (Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation) is preparing the Space Bill to manage Malaysia’s activities in space such as satellite launches.

“The notice (on Parliament closure) is for the public gallery. Not MPs. Parliament will sit,” read his tweet.

The coming Dewan Rakyat session, from July 13 to Aug 27, will be streamed live on the official Parliament YouTube channel.

Malaysia implemented an almost full lockdown on March 18 with the MCO to contain the Covid-19 outbreak.

However, as the number of infected cases in the country declined, the government began to gradually ease regulations, lift restrictions and open businesses, shifting to the conditional MCO in May and now the recovery MCO.

The recovery MCO period began yesterday and is slated to end on Aug 31.