KUALA LUMPUR: The Parliamentary Services Act (PSA) is “90% complete” with its draft laws already prepared, says law and institutional reform minister Azalina Othman Said.
Azalina said several meaningful engagement sessions had been conducted throughout 2023 and 2024, involving key stakeholders such as the Dewan Rakyat speaker, the Senate president, the secretaries of both Houses, the Public Services Commission, the public service department, the finance ministry, the attorney-general’s chambers as well as the legal affairs division under the prime minister’s department.
“These sessions aim to finalise the relevant policy resolutions on this matter. So, the answer here is indeed (the act) is already 90% ready. The draft laws are also ready,” she told the Dewan Rakyat.
“Just waiting for the right time, as asked by Raub (Chow Yu Hui) earlier about the timeline.”
Azalina was responding to a question from Chow (PH-Raub) about the government’s roadmap and timeline for establishing the PSA to demonstrate its commitment to ensuring the independence and autonomy of Parliament.
In the Dewan Rakyat, Azalina also proposed synchronising the tabling of the PSA with the constitutional citizenship amendment, which home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail intends to table, in order to secure the necessary votes.
However, she expressed confidence that the PSA would obtain the support of all 222 MPs.
“I am confident because this amendment is not only for the citizens out there but for all of us as MPs,” she said.
Dewan Rakyat speaker Johari Abdul previously said that the tabling of the proposed PSA was still “very much on the cards” for this year.
Calls to revive the law had been aired for a few years among MPs as well as by former Senate president Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jafar.
The PSA was first enacted in 1963, granting Parliament independence in managing its affairs, staff selection, and expenditure control. However, it was repealed in 1992. - FMT
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