5 reasons why hybrid Parliament wasn’t implemented

 

Technological or legal issues may prevent a hybrid Parliament, but ultimately it is down to a lack of political will, says Dr Kelvin Yii. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: An MP has revealed five reasons why hybrid parliamentary sittings have not been implemented, citing a conversation he had with Dewan Rakyat Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun.

Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii said among the challenges Azhar shared were technological issues, Standing Order limitations, legal immunity, cybersecurity concerns and spontaneity of debate.

The first problem, Yii said, was the matter of inequitable internet access throughout the country.

“There was also the excuse that some MPs may not have proper laptops or were ‘technologically-challenged’,” he added.

Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii.

The second hurdle was Standing Order 85(5a), which states that parliamentary proceedings and select committees shall be held only within the premises of Parliament.

“I tried to challenge this. I brought it up with the Speaker and he pushed it up to the AG (attorney-general) for legal advice on whether this interpretation of ‘premises of Parliament’ can be expanded to something like a Zoom call,” Yii told a Bersih 2.0 webinar about parliamentary sittings during a pandemic.

However, the AG had rejected the proposal to extend the Standing Order to a virtual setting.

Yii said he then wrote to Azhar during July’s special parliamentary sitting, asking the Speaker to make a ruling that considered virtual meetings as Parliament premises.

“He told me he would get back to me in a week, but then we know what happened in the last Parliament session,” he said, referring to the final day of the sitting being postponed due to Covid-19 risks and the constitutional crisis that followed.

The third reason was a matter of legal immunity being extended to virtual platforms, as Article 63(2) of the Federal Constitution states that lawmakers are not liable to any court proceedings for anything said in the Dewan Rakyat.

“The fourth challenge was the issue of cybersecurity and how safe or viable electronic voting was,” Yii said.

Finally, there was the matter of spontaneous debates, which was why many MPs were not keen on taking part in a partially virtual Parliament.

“In a hybrid system, the spontaneity of debate would be severely limited,” he said. “We don’t want to just attend a lecture, we need to have the freedom to voice out, whether it is disagreements from the ground, inputs, recommendations, and so on and so forth.”

However, despite the Speaker’s clarification, Yii believed that it was not technological or legal issues that prevented the government from implementing a hybrid parliamentary system, but rather the lack of political will to do so.

He said it was time to push for tangible parliamentary reforms that could have a lasting impact on the country’s democracy, adding that there was a need to adapt in anticipation of future crises.

“A hybrid Parliament is not just preparing for now, but for eventualities and circumstances in the future. This is not the last pandemic we will face.” - FMT