Make good use of 5-day sitting, opposition MPs urged

 

The five-day Dewan Rakyat sitting is expected to test Muhyiddin Yassin’s majority support among MPs. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: With Parliament being reconvened soon, a political analyst has urged opposition MPs to make good use of the opportunity and hold the government accountable for every decision and policy it has made since the last sitting.

The last Dewan Rakyat sitting was held on Dec 17.

Opposition MPs must prepare loaded questions and scrutinise every policy made by the government in its Covid-19 pandemic management, said Oh Ei Sun of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs.

“Opposition MPs have a lot of work to do. They must question the government’s decisions and put its responses on record,” he told FMT.

Apart from policies, Oh said opposition MPs must discuss the ordinances passed during the Emergency, mainly the anti-fake news ordinance.

“If the opposition can somehow override this ordinance, it will be a huge step forward for them politically.”

He believed that the division between opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad was the main reason for the lack of collective strength among opposition parties.

“The Anwar-Mahathir division is what is keeping them (opposition) at bay.”

The Prime Minister’s Office announced recently that Muhyiddin Yassin would advise the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to call for a five-day Dewan Rakyat sitting from July 26 to 29 and on Aug 2.

The five-day sitting would also test Muhyiddin’s majority support among MPs.

This comes after Umno announced that it was withdrawing its support for Muhyiddin as prime minister, with party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi calling for his resignation after a Supreme Council meeting that lasted over four hours earlier this week.

Oh said the reconvening of Parliament, however, would not change the current political situation.

“As long as the emergency is in place, laws can be passed without having to go through the (parliamentary) voting process. This is because the government can use the emergency powers to promulgate laws in the form of ordinances.

“The government can always use this advantage to stop any motion of no confidence from being passed.”

Meanwhile, Muhyiddin’s principal private secretary Marzuki Mohamad has assured that MPs will be able to debate and vote during the five-day special parliament sitting.

However, he did not specify if all the items on the agenda would be debated and voted on. - FMT