We were meeting, not eating – Ngeh explains 'lunch break' delay

A Pakatan Harapan lawmaker clarified that government backbenchers were in a meeting, which resulted in the Dewan Rakyat sitting being delayed due to a lack of quorum this afternoon.

“We were not having lunch,” Beruas MP Ngeh Koo Ham told Malaysiakini.

“We worked through the lunch break, in a meeting at (one of the committee rooms) to discuss various matters.

“When the bell rang, we rushed to the hall from our meeting, which actually was still not finished,” he added.

Ngeh also explained that lawmakers are sometimes not present in the Dewan Rakyat during proceedings due to other engagements.

He said parliamentarians cannot afford to "while away their time" in the House when it is not their turn to participate in the debate.

“Just because we are not in the hall doesn’t mean we are not in the Parliament. We might be meeting with officers or members of the public who are seeking our help.

“We need to maximise our time. We cannot just sit in the hall all day,” he added.

The DAP MP said lawmakers might also be required to rush back to their constituencies to deal with their constituents' issues.

Earlier, Malaysiakini reported that proceedings were delayed for five minutes when the minimum quorum of 26 MPs could not be met after the 90-minute lunch break. - Mkini