Immediate, humiliating demotion of the Dewan Rakyat secretary

MP SPEAKS | The immediate, humiliating and drastic demotion of Dewan Rakyat Secretary Riduan Rahmat, even without the decency of a 24-hour notice, raises the disturbing question about the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government’s commitment to parliamentary democracy and the fundamental principle of the Malaysian Constitution on the doctrine of separation of powers,

Is this the cabinet’s demonstration of its arrogance of power to express its displeasure that Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s motion of no confidence had been accepted by Parliament, which also resulted in the further truncation of the parliamentary business on May 18 to permit only the delivery of the Royal Address by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong?

Riduan’s last act as secretary of the Dewan Rakyat was to send out a notice dated May 13, 2020, to all Members of Parliament informing them that the business of Parliament on May 18 had been truncated to the delivery of the Royal Address.

In the notice, Riduan attached a one-page “takwim” (calendar) of the May 18 Parliament sitting, leaving open the question whether the earlier notices on the Parliament takwim this year would be subject to further changes.

In his earlier notice of April 17, Riduan had sent the twice-revised takwim of Parliament, i.e. 25 sittings of Parliament from July 13 to Aug 27; and 36 parliamentary sittings in the 2021 Budget meeting from Sept 28 to Nov 26.

The takwim of Parliament for this year has already been changed twice.

In his notice to MPs dated March 4, Riduan informed MPs that Parliament would meet for 15 sittings from May 18 to June 23 (with eight days allocated to the backbenchers’ debate on the Motion of Thanks for the Royal Address, five days for Ministerial replies and one day on government business), 17 sittings from July 27 to Aug 27, and 36 sittings for the 2021 Budget meeting from Sept 28 to Nov 26 – making a total of 71 sittings.

This was itself at variance with the takwim for the first meeting of Parliament in 2020, which was sent out to MPs by the former Dewan Rakyat Secretary Roosme Hamzah, that the Dewan Rakyat would meet for 24 sittings from March 9 to April 16, followed by 21 sittings from July 29 to Aug 27, and finally for 32 sittings for the 2021 Budget meeting from Sept 28 to Nov 19, 2020 – making a total of 77 sittings in 2020.

Already, the Parliament takwim this year has been shortened from the original 77 sittings to 62 sittings. The backbenchers’ debate on the Motion of Thanks for the Royal Address has also been halved from eight days to four days.

Will there be further slashing and reductions in the Parliament takwim for this year?

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LIM KIT SIANG is the Member of Parliament for Iskandar Puteri. - Mkini