PETALING JAYA: All Pakatan Harapan (PH) states will be calling for state assembly sittings in August in a solidarity move to push the federal government into opening Parliament and state legislative bodies as soon as the emergency is over.
PH and Umno are speculated to be on the same page on this matter as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong has said that Parliament and state assemblies can sit if the prime minister decides to do so.
DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, who is one of the two deputy presidents of the PH presidential council, confirmed this, saying it was a plan the opposition coalition had agreed to at its last meeting.
Lim said it may not be a coincidence that Pahang started the ball rolling by sending out letters to its assemblymen for the sitting to be held in August as Umno had joined the PH chorus slamming the Perikatan Nasional-led government for not convening the legislative bodies.
“Pahang is an Umno-led government which also wants the PN-led government to allow the sitting of the legislative assemblies. All the assemblymen in PH-ruled states will be asked to submit questions in preparation for the opening.
“It’s not only the elected representatives who want Parliament and the assemblies to function normally. The people too are asking for it.
“MPs and assemblymen have all been vaccinated, so there’s no issue in physical attendance, with strict SOPs in place,” he told FMT.
On May 25, the Pahang government issued a letter to all its assemblymen, saying the assembly would convene from Aug 16 to 20.
However, the letter, which was sent out by assembly secretary Syed Ahmad Khirulanwar Alyahya Syed Abdul Rahman, stated that the assembly will convene on condition the emergency is not extended.
The speaker had also asked the assemblymen to submit their questions within two weeks of the notice.
The PH states are Penang, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan, while Umno is in charge in Perak, Johor, Melaka and Perlis. Perlis Umno has declared support for PN and Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
Asked if PH is in “talks” with Umno to ensure the states which the party leads in do the same, Lim said it appeared the two are in solidarity to stop the “insidious subversion of parliamentary democracy” being perpetrated by PN.
On the possibility of the meetings not being able to be held in the event the emergency is extended, the Bagan MP said the declaration is strictly meant for the fight against Covid-19 and cannot be allowed to stifle democracy as is being done now.
“Half the nation is at work now, even with most of them not being vaccinated yet. And what is wrong with the vaccinated ones attending Parliament and state assemblies?
“This move will demonstrate to the government the people’s yearning to have their voices heard in Parliament through their wakil rakyat to offer ideas and solutions for a whole-of-society battle to win the war against Covid-19,” he said. - FMT
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