Dewan Rakyat falls short of 26 MPs quorum

The Dewan Rakyat sitting today took a brief pause during the Budget 2020 debates as the attendance fell below the quorum of 26 MPs.

Around 4pm, Bung Moktar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan) interrupted Chong Shiau Yoon (Harapan-Tebrau), who was in the midst of his Budget 2020 debate, to point out that the Dewan Rakyat did not have enough quorum.

A full view of the Dewan Rakyat showed that both sides of the hall appeared to be quite empty.

According to the standing order, the Dewan Rakyat must fulfil a quorum of at least 26 MPs out of 222 for a sitting to convene.

Deputy Speaker Nga Kor Ming then instructed for the bell to be rung for one minute and Parliamentarians began to enter the hall.

"There are actually a lot who are present, but they are not in the Dewan," Nga said, as the bell rang.

The sitting reconvened shortly after that and Chong then continued his debate uninterrupted.

This comes after Bersatu supreme council member Rais Hussin and opposition MP Khairy Jamaluddin criticised the abysmal attendance of MPs, especially as they were debating the budget.

Opposition leader Ismail Sabri called today a black mark in the history of Parliament, criticising Harapan ministers for not attending the budget debate.

"To fulfil the quorum, I understand you only need 26 people, so we do not even have 26 people in this Dewan during a very important debate on the budget.

"It looks as if the Parliamentarians and the ministers from Harapan are not interested in the Dewan.

"I think if you are not interested in the debates and not interested in being in the Dewan, then I suggest to the government to just dissolve this government.

"Choose new Parliamentarians who are more interested to attend the debates in the Dewan," Ismail Sabri (above) said in a press conference after the Parliament sitting resumed.

When he was questioned on how many opposition MPs were in the hall, he said he did not know before insisting that it was more important for the government MPs to attend the Dewan.

"Back when I was in the government, it was important that the government must be in the Dewan. The opposition last time also just come and go.

"Because this budget was tabled by the finance minister, so this is the government's budget.

"They should be in the Dewan to hear the debates from the opposition," he said.

Ismail Sabri later admitted that this was not the first time the Dewan Rakyat had fallen below the quorum requirement but added that it was a rare occurrence.

The last time the Dewan Rakyat did not fill the quorum was back in July 2018 during the first parliament session after the 14th General Election.

At that time, Speaker Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof had postponed the sitting for five minutes to ring the bell before the quorum was eventually filled. - Mkini