Group calls on Wan Junaidi to not gag anti-hopping committee

 

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar has been criticised for gagging the special select committee on restricting MPs from switching parties.

In a statement today, pressure group Seed Community for a Professional Parliament said Wan Junaidi had wrongly applied a "narrow reading" of Standing Order 85 to prevent details from the meeting from reaching the public.

"Nevertheless, a clear and contextualised reading of the standing orders demonstrates that Standing Order 85 does not prevent the holding of public hearings and consultations by any parliamentary special select committee.

"In fact, numerous select committees set up under the Dewan Rakyat in the past have held town halls, public inquiries and site visits, and such actions have not been deemed to be a breach of Standing Order 85.

"Standing Order 85 also does not prevent a summary of any Select Committee meeting, consultation or hearing from being published by the said committee, and again this has been and continues to be the accepted practice of many previous and current committees of the Dewan Rakyat,” Seed Community said.

"Further, Standing Order 85 does not explicitly prevent stakeholders from sharing the evidence and representations that they intend to submit to a committee," it added.

Use Commonwealth standard

Seed Community said Wan Junaidi's interpretation of Standing Order 85 was not the norm in countries practising similar parliamentary systems.

The group cited the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand as examples of countries where parliamentary committee proceedings are open and publicly accessible, while closed-door discussions are only allowed under exceptional circumstances.

"As Malaysians are on par with citizens of other Commonwealth countries, we deserve top-quality lawmaking by the Commonwealth standard.

"The learned, visionary and driven law minister who has introduced remarkable reforms since his appointment last August should make modernisation of the Dewan Rakyat's and Dewan Negara's standing orders part of his legacy for Malaysia," Seed Community said.

On April 26, Wan Junaidi issued the first update on the committee's activities after three meetings but revealed very little, citing Standing Order 85.

Standing Order 85 reads as follows: "The evidence taken before any select committee and any documents presented to such committee shall not be published by any member of such committee, or by any other person, before the committee has presented its report to the House."

This select committee was formed on April 10 to re-work bills related to laws that will discourage elected lawmakers from switching parties.

The anti-hopping law was the cornerstone of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Transformation and Political Stability signed between Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Pakatan Harapan.

Missed deadline

Seed Community also criticised the MOU steering committee for failing to meet its five-month deadline to revise the standing orders.

The group said the steering committee had failed to provide neither an explanation nor an apology for this.

"In revising the standing orders, the steering committee should consider the Recommended Benchmarks for Democratic Legislatures (3) published by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA).

"Lest we forget, the Dewan Rakyat is CPA's secretariat for the South-East Asia region," it added.

Seed Community is a coalition of individuals active in civil society organisations, think tanks and academia working towards a professional Parliament that facilitates healthy policy competition between parties.

Their endorsees are Bait Al Amanah, Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih), Engage Network, Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas), Wisdom Foundation, Institute for Political Reform and Democracy (Reform) and Persatuan Pengundi Muda (Undi18). - Mkini