Our parliamentary sessions are always entertaining, as there is usually at least 1 shouting match during the sittings.
Now, many of us know that some MPs’ attendance might not be so good, and it leads to questions popping into our heads.
Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul has recently said they want to improve the attendance of MPs when the parliament is in session.
According to The Sun Daily, one of the ways that the speaker thought of is to put the MPs’ attendance records on the parliament website to improve transparency.
“But I have to look into the legal part to see whether it is possible or not, but certainly to me personally, yes it should be, but again, as I said, I have to look into the mechanism and the law as well as the Standing Order before such action.”
The speaker added that he received suggestions from the former Speaker Tan Sri Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof, who believes that the Parliament Standing Orders should be amended to make it easier to take action.
”I think it is quite reasonable because, at the moment, we don’t have that, meaning MPs are free and easy. After clocking in for a while, they leave, and that is not fair,” he added.
It was reported that on August 29, the speaker is mulling the idea of cutting absentee MPs’ allowance to ensure they are present during sittings as they are being paid a daily allowance of RM500.
We certainly hope that something can be done as parliamentary sessions are important for nation-building.
What do you think of this initiative? Let us know in the comments.
Also read: Khairy Jamaluddin: Politicians & Civil Servants’ Pension Should Be Abolished
