Friday 29 Mar 2024
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ON March 6, the Parliamentary Reform Proposal Group (GCPP) led by Maria Chin held a press conference announcing its proposal for Parliamentary reform towards a people-centred Parliament.

The GCPP comprises the Youth Academy, Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih 2.0), Engage, Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS), Political Studies for Change (KPRU), Society for the Promotion of Human Rights (Proham), Projek Beres, Tindak Malaysia and Undi Malaysia. It is supported by the Bar Council and Global Movement of Moderates (GMM).

The proposal is premised on the thoughts that it is paramount for Parliament to reflect our robust democracy by being more equitable and accountable as a space for meaningful engagement of the legislative process. It is based on an eight-month consultation with various stakeholders, including MPs from both side of the house.

I am honoured to be part of this initiative.

The proposal focused on four areas: reintroduction of the Parliamentary Services Act, Parliamentary Committees, Agenda-Setting in the Dewan Rakyat and Allocations for Research and Constituency Development.

On the first area, in 1963, the Parliamentary Services Act (PSA) was established to enable the formation of a separate “Parliamentary Service”, appointed by the Dewan Negara President and Dewan Rakyat Speaker.

The number of staff, their designations and salaries are determined by an advisory committee and approved by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. But PSA was repealed in 1992. Today, Parliament is staffed by members of the public service who fall under the control of the executive branch of government.

We are of the opinion that MPs must have the independence and powers to manage their own parliamentary affairs. The work of Parliament has to be that of Parliament, not the work of the executive. Hence, the PSA must be restored in a first step towards making Parliament administratively and financially independent of the executive.

On the second area, today, there are only five standing committees in the Dewan Rakyat and four in the Dewan Negara. With the exception of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), the other committees only deal with the inner workings of Parliament. No committees are regularly tasked with reviewing pre-legislation proposals, bills, motions or petitions. There is lack of consultation with stakeholders.

We should establish a participatory law-making process in order for Parliament to come up with better legislation. That is why we are calling for the creation of more standing committees. This will allow in-depth debates with additional input from experts and other stakeholders. This would result in better legislation and greater sensitivity to peoples’ needs. It will also increase parliamentary oversight of the executive.

On the third area, today, the agenda is set by the government and handed down to the Secretary of the House. Public business, motion for introduction of non-government bills and other items of business are usually debated last, and with the time constraints, these items rarely see the light of day. There is question time for the ministers, but no allocation for question time for the prime minister. There is also no shadow Cabinet.

We are proposing that a House Business Committee (HBC) be formed. The HBC may, among others, determine: that a minor adjustment be made to the hours of a specified sitting day; the order of business to be transacted in the House; the time to spend on an item of business; and the speaking times of parties represented in the House and of individual MPs.

We are also proposing that a shadow Cabinet be formed and recognised; allocation for question time for the prime minister; a reasonable number of days per sitting assigned for non-government business; and to create a parliamentary TV channel.

On the last area, MPs need to have access to timely, up-to-date, accurate and well-researched information for effective decision-making. But today, MPs are not provided with an allocation for researchers. Hence, we are proposing that an allocation be provided to every MP, separate from his/her allowance, to hire high quality research assistants.

We are also proposing that the current “constituency development funds” be scrapped. If such funds are needed, these should be given to local government councils, of which MPs and ADUNs should be ex-officio members.

Besides the four areas, we are also proposing a reform of the Dewan Negara. This needs to be approached holistically and will require a proper debate into its composition, method of appointment or election, democratic legitimacy and legislative competency.

Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah is CEO of Global Movement of Moderates and former Deputy Minister of Higher Education. He is active on twitter: @saifuddinabd.


This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly, on March 23-29, 2015.

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