The Covid-19 prevention measures in Parliament strikes a balance between the Health Ministry's advice and ensuring that the august House is able to conduct its business, according to opposition whips.
Starting tomorrow, only 80 of the Dewan Rakyat's 221 MPs would be allowed to be present in the chambers at any given time, including for the tabling of Budget 2021.
However, all MPs will be permitted to be in the hall when bloc voting is called. Parliament had a total of 222 MPs before the demise of Batu Sapi MP Liew Vui Keong on Oct 2.
Although the new rules led to certain limitations, DAP parliamentary leader Anthony Loke said opposition whips have tried their best to strike a balance.
He also clarified that MPs could take turns to be inside the chamber.
“It means that after I have finished my debate session, another MP can go in. It is like a pairing system since all of us cannot talk at the same time too,” he told Malaysiakini.
“So, don't misunderstand. It does not mean that only 80 MPs are allowed to attend the sitting,” he said, adding that 80 MPs are equivalent to about one-third of the total number of federal lawmakers.
Loke also pointed out that the total debate hours for the budget at the policy stage was only reduced by 90 minutes after the House agreed to provide an additional two days for the debate and to cancel the lunch break.
“Normally, we have 90 minutes for lunch but no more. So, the normal sitting hours have been reduced by two hours.
“But we have an additional two days to cover this, which means the policy stage debate hours would not reduce much,” he explained.
Under normal circumstances, the House sits from 10am to 1pm before breaking for lunch. The sitting then resumes from 2.30pm to 5.30pm, for a total of six hours.
However, due to the pandemic, the sitting will be held for four hours from 10am to 2pm, starting next week.
Meanwhile, Loke’s party colleague Teresa Kok appeared unimpressed with the new measures and questioned why the government has not implemented virtual parliamentary sittings despite calls to do so since April.
She said the Inter-Parliamentary Union has urged parliaments around the world to conduct virtual sittings in response to the pandemic, and countries such as Brazil, Finland, Latvia, South Africa, and Spain have already adapted its rules and framework to the present situation.
In particular, she said the New Zealand House of Representatives and UK House of Commons have amended its standing orders to allow for remote sittings.
“I urge the prime minister and the Perikatan Nasional government to stop undermining the function of the Parliament and stop frustrating the MPs’ role in the legislative body, and speed up the process of amending the parliamentary standing orders and let Parliament go virtual urgently,” the Seputeh MP said in a statement.
Loke said the respective party whips would review the standard operating procedure (SOP) again for the committee stage of the budget should the number of Covid-19 cases drop.
“If the situation gets better after three weeks, then we can go back to normal. The measures can be reviewed.
“If (more debate time) is needed, then we can increase the sitting days. This was our consensus, it just needs the approval of the leader of the House.
“I believe all MPs will try our best to carry out our duties under these special circumstances,” he said, adding that besides the budget, no other bills would be debated during this session.
Warisan: Less fun, but necessary
Echoing a similar stand, Warisan whip Rozman Isli also believed that the new regulations would not have much negative impact.
“I don't think so... the rest (of the MPs) can watch the tabling of the budget and debates on the TV screen. It would just be less fun in the chambers.
“Of course, we wish that we could have this important sitting without additional restrictions. But we understand the need to take extra precautions due to Covid-19,” the Labuan MP added.
According to Rozman, these decisions were only reached after much argument and counter-proposals during a Covid-19 prevention coordination meeting yesterday.
“In fact, all the decisions were somewhat of a compromise or middle way. We have to strike a balance...
"We, the opposition whips, have tried our best to make sure that the majority of MPs will still have opportunities to debate the budget. Therefore, two additional days have been added,” he said.
On the other hand, Amanah vice-president Hasanuddin Yunus said opposition whips had no choice but to agree to the new regulations to comply with the Covid-19 prevention SOP.
Therefore, he said, all parliamentarians were advised not to attend the meeting for more than four hours and the bloc voting process would be conducted in less than one hour.
“We will arrange our members' schedule to take turns (to go inside the chamber). When there is bloc voting, all of us will go in,” he added.
Earlier today, Dewan Rakyat Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun announced that only 80 MPs out of 222 would be allowed in the hall at one time, which comprises 41 from the government and 39 from the opposition and independent bench.
The selection of MPs would be determined by each party and those attending would be issued with a special card to record their attendance. - Mkini
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