YOURSAY | Time to take action against absent MPs

YOURSAY | ’They are disrespecting voters by skipping Parliament sessions.’

Fahmi points to PM Q&A no-show by Hadi, Hamzah, Muhyiddin

Apanama is back: While we are talking about reforming MACC, Attorney-General’s Chambers, this agency and that agency, abolishing the mandatory death penalty, amending Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 (SOAC or Act 792) and so on, we have overlooked MP's attendance in our Dewan Rakyat and also Senators' at Dewan Negara.

In the UK, for example, MPs are not obliged by parliamentary rules to attend the House at any time. Political parties may make demands of their MPs, but that is a matter for them.

Erskine May, the authority on parliamentary procedure, states: "On ordinary occasions, the attendance of MPs is not enforced by either House."

However, we need to do something since all these 222 MPs are drawing monthly income from taxpayers.

Therefore, the voters and taxpayers should demand their MP attend the Parliament sitting. But you and I know what kind of voters we have here. It will be a tall order.

The speaker, deputies and prime minister can’t do anything as far as MPs' attendance is concerned.

The voters and taxpayers are helpless. While we condemn former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak for plundering, Larut MP Hamzah Zainudin, Marang MP Abdul Hadi Awang and Pagoh MP Muhyiddin Yassin are also "plundering" our taxpayers' money by being "kaki ponteng" (frequent absentee).

Because there is a loophole in our parliamentary proceedings. Hadi could even show his middle finger to us, the taxpayers, that this is not a school, so he could “ponteng” (absent) at his whims and fancies.

I hope every reader and commentator could see how helpless we are. Even the 222 MPs can't find a way to solve this attendance issue.

Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil just pointed it out. What is next? Point it out again next Tuesday? What is the solution?

Therefore, the ball is now on the speaker and president of Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara, respectively, to solve this attendance issue.

For example, look at Chapter 2: Sittings of the House of New Zealand Parliament.

Point 38 is mentioned below:

“Permission to be absent from the House: The speaker may grant a member of a party consisting of one member, an independent member, or any other member (following a request from a member’s party leader or whip) permission to be absent from the House—

(a) on account of illness or other family cause of a personal nature:

(b) to enable the member to attend to public business (whether in New Zealand or overseas).

(2) A leader or whip of a party consisting of more than one member may grant any member of that party permission to be absent from the House.”

Therefore, the standing order should be amended to include attendance, so that actions could be taken against habitual "kaki ponteng".

Otherwise, there is no point in grumbling and lamenting etc. Take action.

Ensure taxpayers' money does not go to waste by being "kaki ponteng. Do something rather than sitting idle and lamenting that this MP and that MP keep on “ponteng”.

GreenImpala: Just travel to the countryside and meet their supporters. They don’t care whether Hadi and his friends attend Parliament.

Time for us all to recognise that our needs and priorities are different from others in the urban setting, even though in the end we are talking about the same thing, just different sides of the coin.

Siva1967: Just like in any organisation, these absences should be imposed with a deduction of their salary/allowance.

We, the taxpayers, should not be burdened by such irresponsible behaviour. At the rate the country's debts are going, every ringgit and sen should be made accountable. There is no such thing as free lunch.

Max Fury: How can anyone think that these useless opposition leaders can run a government one day? They can’t even be an effective opposition.

“Ponteng” all the time and all they know is to create dramas and tell lies and point fingers and divide the people. When they can't get what they want, they stay away and sulk.

Nuyiko: Arau MP Shahidan Kassim should be nominated as the opposition leader. Most of the time he is the only person who shows up in the opposition front row.

His attendance in Parliament is more frequent than Hamzah, Muhyiddin and Hadi combined. Also, he never misses the opportunity to ask the prime minister questions every Tuesday.

But then we are talking about Perikatan Nasional which declared an emergency during the Covid-19 outbreak so that the Parliament could not convene as they didn’t have the numbers to survive a confidence vote.

When it was in power, it also limited journalists' access to Parliament. PN has little regard for democracy.

UNDECIDED: How disappointing. Three top leaders of the opposition show so little interest in grilling the prime minister when given a proper opportunity and platform to do so.

Outside Parliament, their leaders rave, rant and complain about the prime minister and the unity government.

Don't they want to improve on what the unity government has implemented or planned for the country? Maybe they think that their "small" salary as an MP doesn't justify the effort or are they clueless as to how to proceed?

1Citizen: These people are just politicians not fit to be parliamentarians or leaders. They are there for “gaji buta” (getting paid for nothing). No conscience.

The sooner we lose them, the better to make way for new blood as the country enters a new era.

ADE 007: Hamzah, you are the opposition leader with the same status as a minister. At least you should have been in the Parliament.

This is a total disrespect to the people who voted for you.

Shame on you man. As for the other two, no comments.

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