'Bills please': Opposition needles govt over lack of new Acts, amendments

 

PARLIAMENT | The opposition today needled the government over an apparent lack of bills to amend laws or legislate new Acts in the Dewan Rakyat's order paper.

This is after the government only had two very short bills on the order paper today and nothing else.

The bills to amend the Renewable Energy Act and Sustainable Energy Development Authority Act both contain just one amendment, which is to allow the minister in charge to suspend the operation of the whole Act(s) or parts of it in any part of the country.

Takiyuddin Hassan (Perikatan Nasional-Kota Bharu) questioned why the government had nothing else lined up when the current Dewan Rakyat meeting still had seven more days to go.

"Does the government not have bills for the other seven days?

"Or is the government going to spring a surprise on us like with the Insolvency Bill," he asked in the Lower House today.

This is in reference to a bill to amend the Insolvency Act, which was tabled for the first reading on Monday and then debated the very next day before being passed on Wednesday.

Takiyuddin said this rushed pace did not allow MPs to go through the bill properly before being "forced" to debate on the matter.

As part of the Dewan Rakyat procedure, the government may add or remove any bills or motions to the order paper - with notice - at whim, meaning that the government can add more bills down the line.

The Standing Orders also dictate that government bills will take precedence in the Dewan Rakyat, meaning they can skip ahead of any private motions or bills submitted by MPs that are already in the queue.

Bloc vote defeated

As the government had only two short bills today, there was a chance that at least one private motion by Shahidan Kassim (PN-Arau) would be debated in the Dewan Rakyat.

However, the government moved a motion to end today's proceedings after the two bills were passed.

An attempt by the opposition to reject the motion through a bloc vote was defeated 83-52.

In a press conference after the vote, Takiyuddin said the government motion showed that the ruling coalition was not serious about doing their work.

"It indirectly means the government wants to leave, chow, early, they have no more work to do, (except to) make films," he said, taking a veiled jibe at Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's biopic.

"We (the opposition) are serious, we came to Parliament to follow proceedings to debate, make motions and so on, but we were not given the opportunity by the government through Parliament today," he said.

He also questioned if the government would continue ending Dewan Rakyat sessions early due to a lack of bills prepared for debate.

He added that any attempt to introduce a bill at the eleventh hour and fast-track it would be opposed. - Mkini