World-class Parliament like Britain: Is Muhyiddin serious?

Mariam Mokhtar, Malaysia Chronicle

Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said that MPs needed to debate competently with integrity and more thought, to make Malaysia's parliament world class. He requested they show decorum when debating and also hold greater responsibility when representing the people so that the nation's top legislature remained relevant and effective.

“After over half a century, what is clear is that we can transform the parliamentary institution in our country to be on par with those of advanced nations like Britain. I believe MPs from both sides of the divide share this vision and mission”.

However, the chaos that followed the actions of the Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia is far-removed from anybody’s vision of a ‘world-class’ parliament.

When Parliament began its session, opposition MPs made numerous unsuccessful attempts to filibuster the motion to suspend Anwar.

The opposition bench first deliberated if the speaker was able to uphold his own decisions, in the case of the embattled Shah Alam Hospital. They later questioned Pandikar’s conflict of interest when suspending Anwar over the APCO issue because the Speaker was also chair of the Parliament’s rights and privileges committee (PRPC).

When Pandikar claimed that the opposition leader had been given one week to defend himself, the opposition angrily rejected this stating that Anwar had not been given that opportunity.

The speaker then bulldozed through the proceedings and asked Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz to table the motion against Anwar. He then barred the opposition from debating the motion against Anwar citing rule 44 of the Standing Orders.

The motion against Anwar was quickly passed, which prompted the mass walkout of the opposition.

A second motion to suspend Karpal, Azmin and R Sivarasa for six months, over statements they made in connection with Anwar's case with the PRPC, was also approved.

There were no PR lawmakers in the House when BN MPs debated this second motion and full advantage to attack Anwar and Pakatan Rakyat, was taken.

When it came time to winding up the debates, Nazri said that since no one from the opposition was present, there was no need to deliberate further and he moved to open the motion to a vote.

That, too, was quickly passed. The four MPs will be barred from the next parliamentary session, expected to be held in March next year.

Karpal later said that they had criticised the committee's investigation methodology against Anwar, in which the opposition leader's defence was never called.

He also said that PR would seek for judicial review over the abuse of power by Pandikar and the decision to suspend the four MPs for six months.

“We may take it to court. There is a precedence in the case of Gobind Singh where we took in fact the Speaker, Pandikar Amin himself. The court has ruled that in certain circumstances, especially when the rules of natural justice are not complied with, then the court has the jurisdiction.”

Nazri responded to Karpal's statement saying it was ridiculous and that the case would be thrown out. He described Pakatan Rakyat MPs as “stupid” and “crazy” for threatening to sue the Speaker.

“They have got cow dung in their heads. I assure you that if they take it to court it will be kicked out. What law did Karpal learn? He is a third-class lawyer.”

“The Speaker has already said there is a judgment by one judge that the court has got no jurisdiction over parliamentary proceedings. There is the sovereignty of Parliament and supremacy of Parliament,” said Nazri

Nazri’s extensive vocabulary skills with words like “cow-dung” and his powers of reasoning in persuasion and discussion, coupled with the manner in which the politics of thuggery was practised in parliament, only serves to show that Nazri has a long way to go to satisfy Muhyiddin’s desire for “parliament to debate competently with integrity and more thoughtfully”.

Maybe Muhyiddin should start educating members of BN first. His high expectations of the Dewan Rakyat becoming a world class parliament and his comparison of our parliament with the British one, are laughable