The Malaysian Insight

DEWAN Rakyat Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun should resign for allowing the government to usurp Parliament’s powers, MP Ramkarpal Singh (Bukit Gelugor-Pakatan Harapan, PH) said today.

“Why didn’t you allow the Emergency Proclamation and the ordinances to be brought to Parliament?” he said in the Dewan Rakyat today.

“Are you a government lapdog? You have disgraced Parliament and are not fit to sit in that chair. You should resign as the Dewan Rakyat speaker.

“Have you been instructed by the government not to bring these matters to Parliament. If this is your agenda, resign or we will submit a motion for you to relinquish your seat,” said the Pakatan Harapan MP.

Ramkarpal and several opposition MPs were questioning Azhar for not allowing Parliament to sit and approve the Emergency Proclamation and its ordinances before it was announced on January 11.

Twice former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad (Langkawi-Pejuang) also took the Perikatan Nasional government to task for not allowing Parliament to meet sooner.

“This is not a Parliament meeting as requested by the Conference of Rulers and Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah. We understand that the King has instructed that Parliament sit as soon as possible but the government has not done this.

“Thousands are infected each day, while deaths are in the hundreds. The Agong instructed Parliament to meet because of the problems but the government took a long time, and try to trick the world by holding a briefing and calling it a sitting,” said the 96-year-old MP.

Instead of letting Parliament debate the national recovery plan, Dr Mahathir said the government is holding a briefing instead.

“We don’t want a briefing but want to debate what to do. Yet, this is not included in the Order Paper. Are we supposed to listen to their plan, which has been proven ineffective,” said Dr Mahathir.

Other MPs who have also asked why they are not allowed to debate the Emergency Proclamation were William Leong (Selayang-PH), Mahfuz Omar (Pokok Sena-PH), Shafie Apdal (Semporna-Warisan), Gobind Singh Deo (Puchong-PH) and Sim Tze Tzin (Bayan Baru-PH).

According to Article 150(3) of the federal constitution, the Emergency Proclamation and its ordinances must be approved by Parliament.

Following the Emergency Proclamation on January 11, Parliament is meeting for the first time this year for a special meeting from July 26 till August 2.

Although the government has allowed Parliament to meet again, it has not slotted the Emergency Proclamation and its ordinances for debate.

Azhar is currently replying to the points raised by the lawmakers. – July 26, 2021.