A youth-led initiative will see Covid-19 responses debated online before the Dewan Rakyat convenes to discuss the government’s bill on the virus outbreak.
Spread across two days from July 4-5, the “Parlimen Digital” event will see 222 participants debate and vote on two “bills” concerning how the government should improve its response to the pandemic.
In a virtual press conference this morning, Eshaan Menon - one of its organisers - said the simulation is a “feasibility study” to prove Parliament can be conducted online.
“The main objective is to encourage Parliament to adapt and continue parliamentary proceedings amid the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.
From the event, the organisers will formulate a guideline on how a digital parliamentary session can be held and present it to Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, Dewan Rakyat Speaker Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof and Dewan Negara President SA Vigneswaran.
The guideline will also be presented to all political parties.
Perikatan Nasional has been criticised for dithering on the Covid-19 bill.
During its controversial May 18 Dewan Rakyat sitting, the government had prevented debates for any laws, even for the Agong’s address.
PN had ignored calls from the opposition for a virtual and longer Parliament session, contending that the brief one-day physical sitting was a Covid-19 precaution.
The opposition has since accused Putrajaya of trying to block any attempts to test its fragile majority in the lower house.
Come July 13, the Dewan Rakyat will convene physically again for debates on the royal address before it moves to the Covid-19 bill.
Singapore had passed its version of the Covid-19 bill back in April.
More than 5k applicants
Since announcing a call for participants on June 1, Parlimen Digital has received 5,775 applications - all aged between 15 and 35.
Alicia Nicholle - another one of its organisers - shared that about two-thirds of applicants were students.
Almost half of them had never voted before.
A survey of applicants found that 79.2 percent felt that the one-day May 18 Dewan Rakyat sitting was “not enough”, while 96.2 percent believed that the PN government was handling the Covid-19 pandemic well.
Of the total number of applicants, Alicia said 1,327 had applied to be one of the 222 representatives.
“And 19 percent were female. We hope to make it to 30 percent representation,” she added.
The rest had either nominated others to be representatives or applied to be observers.
Aside from encouraging more women to apply, the organisers are also calling for participants from Sabah, Sarawak, Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang.
Applications close on June 15.
Parlimen Digital is organised by three youth-led politically independent organisations - Challenger Malaysia, Undi18 and Liga Demokratik Malaysia.
The event will be hosted on Microsoft Teams.
Malaysiakini is its official media partner. - Mkini
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