A passion for advocacy and frustration with a recurring problem surrounding absent parliamentarians has pushed self-described “political yapper” and activist Roshinee Mookaiah to initiate a formal parliamentary petition.
Speaking to Malaysiakini, Roshinee said while the process is provided for under the parliamentary Standing Orders, it had only been used once in 2020 to expedite tabling of the Anti-Sexual Harassment Bill.
“This is an independent, citizen-driven political advocacy project that I started because I wanted to keep our absent MPs accountable.
“At the same time, I also wanted to show that we as citizens have the power to challenge the political status quo,” said Roshinee, who founded and now leads Mekar Kami, a grassroots organisation with a focus on making engagement with politics and human rights issues accessible for women and girls.
She explained that the “Dilarang Ponteng Parliament” (don’t skip parliamentary sessions) project, first launched through a series of videos and articles on various social media platforms, is based on a formal petition with four main demands and their elaborations for further actions.
The four main demands, according to Roshinee, are as follows:
A shorter period before an MP’s seat can be declared vacant due to absence.
Under the Federal Constitution, an MP may lose their seat only after being absent for six consecutive months without a valid reason. The petition proposes reducing this timeframe.
Introducing clearer disciplinary measures aligned with international best practices.
While a parliamentary disciplinary committee exists, the petition highlights the lack of specific policies governing attendance and recommends formal guidelines to enable action against consistently absent MPs.
Greater transparency by requiring Parliament to publicly disclose MPs’ attendance and participation in the Dewan Rakyat, distinguishing mere presence from active involvement in proceedings.
Need for public consultation before any decisions are made on the proposals, to ensure reforms are not determined solely by parliamentary interests.
Further actions, meanwhile, could involve amendments to the existing Parliament Standing Orders.
500 signatures and an MP’s endorsement
For the petition to be submitted, it must fulfil two conditions: physical signatures by more than 500 adult citizens and an endorsement by an elected MP who will present it in the Dewan Rakyat.
Apart from a signature, each person is also required to include their full name, MyKad number and address according to their MyKad.
As part of the signature collection drive, Roshinee said she will be at the Bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad, Kuala Lumpur, today from 9am to 3pm with copies of the petition for public endorsement.
Addressing concerns over data privacy, Roshinee said she has imposed a rule for herself and a few volunteers handling the petition documents that they will not make any copies or take any photographs of the signed documents.
“Also, only I and a few trusted volunteers will be handling the petition documents themselves.
“A political petition is a common tool in other democracies, but in Malaysia, it has only been used once before.
“It is such a powerful and useful citizen-driven tool, so I feel it is such a shame that we are not utilising it.
“So I thought, why not, for discourse, to keep our ‘ponteng’ MPs accountable, use this specific parliamentary petition process, teach people about it and model it at the same time,” said Roshinee, whose previous experience in policy reforms included being a leader with the Undi18 movement that successfully lobbied to lower the voting age from 21 to 18 years old.
Since July 2021, the Dewan Rakyat has begun recording attendance on the Hansard (official Parliament transcript).
Other independent data-driven projects launched to track MPs’ attendance and participation include the MyParliament dashboard.
‘Enough is enough’
Elaborating, Roshinee, who graduated with a Master’s in Politics and Human Rights from the London School of Economics, said she was made aware of the petition process while organising a series of parliamentary strengthening workshops for a previous organisation.
“Fast forward now to 2026, when the issues happen during the last parliamentary sitting, the bill to limit the prime minister’s term failed to pass, I felt like this is such a recurring issue - parliamentary absenteeism - so I felt enough is enough,” she stressed.
On March 2, the constitutional amendment bill to limit the prime minister’s term to 10 years failed at its second reading via a bloc vote.
A total of 32 MPs were absent, while another 44 did not vote, leaving the government falling just two votes short of the two-thirds majority, or 148 MPs, required to amend the Constitution.
Looking forward, Roshinee said she has set a May deadline to collect over 500 signatures for submission and verification, ahead of the next Dewan Rakyat sitting on June 22.
She added that she has yet to identify an MP to endorse the petition, but recalled how then Batu Kawan MP Kasthuri Patto had done so on behalf of the women’s rights group Awam that drafted the first petition in 2020.
When contacted, Kasthuri recalled how the first petition submitted to the Dewan Rakyat speaker’s office was vetted by the Attorney-General’s Chambers to verify the authenticity of all personal details.
“They (AGC) actually vetted all the names one by one, and because there were some discrepancies in their addresses, the speaker did not allow for the petition to be tabled and discussed.
“However, the speaker did allow me to read out the motion,” Kasthuri said, adding it was also supported by Pontian MP Ahmad Maslan.
“The petition is a very interesting way for the public to engage with the parliamentary process,” she added.
- Mkini
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