M’sians Question Why Upcoming Parliament Proceedings Will Only Consist Of ‘Ministers Explanations’

Malaysians have had a burning question for the nation’s leaders for the past few months, and that is, “When is the Parliament going to reconvene?” After months of deliberation and discussion, Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced that the Parliament would reconvene for five days (26 to 29 July, followed by a session on 2 August) for Dewan Rakyat and three days (3 to 5 August) for Dewan Negara.

Itinerary of parliament proceedings 

However, in a recent post that was tweeted by former Youth and Sports Minister and current Muar MP, Syed Saddiq, it seems as though the itinerary of the upcoming parliament discussions will be missing a rather significant part of the usual proceedings. The MP took to Twitter to question the government for not giving space to the opposition bloc to voice out their opinion throughout the five-day session.

“This is embarassing! What’s the function of the Parliament if the MPs who are paid thousands of ringgit only have to attend to listen to the “Ministers’ Explanation” ?

Where’s our right to voice out and vote? It’s been months of lockdown but the cases are still high. I’m paid by the rakyat. I must bring their voice.”

As per the itinerary, the council affairs throughout the five days consists only of explanation from the ministers. In the PM’s original statement, the meeting aims to give an explanation to the members of the parliament on the National Recovery Plan and to amend all legislation and rules so that parliamentary sessions can be held in hybrid.

Netizens respond

Malaysians lent their support to the Muar MP to call out the government for not being able to come to a proper conclusion of how to run the Parliament despite not convening for almost nine months.

“This is how you know that THEY KNOW how they’re not doing their jobs of serving the rakyat properly. Not only they refuse to do anything differently at all, they also refuse to step down and let more competent ministers to take charge instead and choose to remain oblivious.”

“This is because the government is scared of the questions to be asked by the Parliament members. This is what happens when we get a government that doesn’t know how to debate and discuss. Just look at the 2020 Parliament where they’re discussing the Economy Recovery.”

“They might as well just send this via PDF or do it via Zoom. They basically took nine months to figure out what they are doing and how to explain it but I’m sure the explanation would make no sense. As if Covid-19 works only between 8pm to 6am.”

What do you think of the Parliament itinerary? Let us know in the comments section!

Also read: NGOs Urge Malaysians To Protest If PM Muhyiddin Does Not Step Down By 16 July