The Malaysian Insight

THE three MPs undergoing Covid-19 quarantine will be allowed to come to Dewan Rakyat for the final Budget 2021 vote if they wear personal-protective equipment (PPE), said Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun.

“I understand there are three MPs who have asked (permission from) the health director-general to attend Parliament tomorrow.

“They will be brought by an ambulance and they will have to wear PPE and sit in a separate room before coming to vote,” said Azhar.

The speaker was responding to Dr Kelvin Yii (Kuching-PH) who asked why Dewan Rakyat was changing the Covid-19 SOP again.

Azhar said the “quarantined” MPs can sit in the public gallery in their PPE until the vote.

“The tellers and Parliament staff assisting them will have to wear visors, etc.”

Azhar, however, denies that it is his decision to allow the MPs to attend, passing the issue to the director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

“We are not changing any SOP. We are following the SOP set out by the health DG.”

“They have to ask the DG and follow his instructions,” said Azhar. 

Last Friday, the Dewan Rakyat was told that three MPs – Health Minister Dr Adham Baba (BN-Tenggara), Human Resources Minister M. Saravanan (BN-Tapah) and P. Prabakaran (PH-Batu) – would be quarantined after coming into close contact with Covid-19 people.

The three MPs were told to undergo self-quarantine and were given home surveillance orders for 14 days.

Following that, Dewan Rakyat secretary Nizam Mydin Bacha Mydin issued a statement to say that the three could still come to Parliament if they get an approval from Noor Hisham.

Incidentally, Noor Hisham has now followed the Perikatan Nasional move of limiting his press conferences to the media.

In a notice sent out today, his press conferences will now be restricted to RTM and official media only.

This is not the first time Dewan Rakyat has adjusted its Covid-19 SOP to suit MPs.

Earlier this month, Dewan Rakyat shortened the number of days required for Sabah MPs to observe HSOs after government MP and deputy minister Jeffrey Kitingan appeared in Parliament after he was quarantined for 12 instead of 14 days.

Azhar said that Kitingan was allowed to cut short his HSO after a government health clinic “found” that he was Covid-19 free.

PN has 112 MPs in the 222-seat chamber while the opposition has 108 after the deaths of the Batu Sapi and Gerik MPs Liew Vui Keong and Hasbullah Osman. 

With the important third reading vote for Budget 2021 taking place tomorrow, both sides need all their MPs to support or defeat the bill in the final vote. – December 14, 2020.