DAP’s Lim Kit Siang noted that the parliamentary order paper for the meeting starting on Monday provided no opportunity for members of parliament to vote on each minister’s presentation following debate. — Picture by Yusof Mat Isa
KUALA LUMPUR, July 24 — The extraordinary circumstances around the five-day special meeting next week did not invalidate the usual parliamentary conventions and practices such as lawmaker’s votes, said DAP’s Lim Kit Siang.
The DAP lawmaker noted that the parliamentary order paper for the meeting starting on Monday provided no opportunity for members of parliament to vote on each minister’s presentation following debate.
“Furthermore, it makes a mockery of the Malaysian Constitution and its bedrock principles of a constitutional monarchy based on parliamentary democracy and the doctrine of separation of powers in denying the DAP MP for Bruas and former Perak Speaker, Ngeh Koo Ham, the opportunity to present his motions to annul the Emergency Proclamation and Ordinances.
“A special meeting of Parliament does not mean that the parliamentary standing orders, parliamentary practices and conventions can be violated,” Lim said in a statement.
He then urged Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun to ensure that the usual parliamentary rules, practices and conventions would apply when the federal legislature finally meets for the first time this year on Monday.
On July 5, the Prime Minister’s Office announced a special parliamentary meeting from July 26 following months of pressure to reconvene the federal legislature that was suspended following a proclamation of Emergency in January.
This will be the first time that the country’s federal lawmakers will convene this year.
Due to the truncated nature of the meeting, the PMO said it would only be to brief MPs about the National Recovery Plan, amend all the necessary laws and rules to enable hybrid Parliament sittings, and table the proclamation of Emergency and Emergency ordinances.