No Dewan Rakyat session in March

Dewan Rakyat deputy speaker Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the government has no agendas to discuss.

PETALING JAYA: Parliament will not be in session next month, Dewan Rakyat deputy speaker Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said today.

“No notice for a sitting has been given to members of parliament. The government has no agendas to discuss so it is highly unlikely that there would be a parliamentary in session in March,” said Wan Junaidi.

In November last year, Dewan Rakyat Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia said that if Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak did not apply to hold sittings between January and April, the last day of sitting would be the final sitting before the 13th general election.

The last day was Nov 29.

(The first sitting of Parliament usually starts during the first quarter.)

Two issues have been raised by opposition lawmakers since then.

Wan Junaidi had previously told FMT that there would be a parliamentary session in March when commenting on Pokok Sena MP Mahfuz Omar’s move to approach the Yang di-Pertuan Agong for a special parliamentary session.

He said that Mahfuz, who is also PAS vice-president, jumped the gun in approaching the king to call for a special parliamentary sitting after carpet trader Deepak Jaikishan made allegations implicating Najib in the death of Mongolian model-cum-translator Altantuya Shaaribu.

Last year private investigator P Balasubramaniam made a statutory declaration implicating Najib and another, freeing Najib from the allegation.

Deepak claimed that he was involved in convincing Balasubramaniam to make the second statutory declaration.

“There is a parliamentary session scheduled in mid-March to April if the prime minister does not approach the King for dissolution of Parliament. It is not correct on his [Mahfuz'a] part to attempt to approach the King. Mahfuz jumped the gun,” Wan Junaidi said in January.

Apart from Mahfuz’s call for a parliamentary sitting, DAP leader Lim Kit Siang recently also called for a parliamentary sitting to discuss the Lahad Datu stand-off.

“Parliament and the Sabah State Legislative Assembly should meet in urgent sessions if Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein is incapable of protecting the sovereignty of Sabah and Malaysia and the rights and safety of Sabahans,” Lim said in a press statement.

The Lahad Datu stand-off begun a week ago when a 100 armed men claiming to be soldiers of the Sulu sultan seized a village in Lahad Datu.

Hishammuddin has stated that the 100-odd men are not terrorists and that the government is negotiating with them. The residents in the affected village have been moved off and the village is currently cordoned off by security forces.