It is time to restore the primacy of Parliament

Parliament's etiquette can be erased if all MPs are allowed to freely scrutinize and debate government policies and actions, not just passing bills.

COMMENTARY

I look forward to the month of July 16, as it is then that the first meeting of the first session of the 14th legislature is to begin.

The first order of the day would be the swearing in of the speaker. Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said on July 8 that a list of candidates had been submitted to Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad for decision.

Former Minister Rais Yatim was among those on the list. who says that he is ready to take up the challenge. Certainly Rais is qualified: he knows how the government works, having served under Dr. Mahathir during his first term as Prime Minister and under the leadership of Najib Razak as a socio-cultural adviser to the government; and he has a doctorate in law

I have nothing against Rais, but I think his selection will not freeze with the move to a New Malaysia.

He is too associated with the old order, too entrenched in Umno Culture. It is better for the speaker to be someone younger and without any luggage.

In addition, he is considered to be close to Dr. Mahathir. He recently joined the PPBM led by Dr. Mahathir. If Dr. Mahathir chooses Rais, people might be tempted to see it as an attempt to consolidate his power over Parliament.

In New Malaysia, citizens want a neutral interlocutor and base their decisions on the fairness of the case. on the affiliation to a party. They do not want anyone who prostrates before the prime minister.

I am sure that there are many young MPs able to cope with this demanding task. There are also competent non-politicians, including former judges, who could be appointed speakers. Maybe a woman could be a speaker because we have capable women among us.

Having someone new and neutral will say that the PH government is serious about its electoral commitment to "restore the powers and freedom of Parliament as the voice of the people to balance executive powers.

The fact is that no one takes Parliament seriously. Many see it as a simple "stamp" of the government. For most Malaysians, this is only interesting because of funny, annoying or ridiculous statements and exchanges between MPs coming out of Parliament.

During the BN's reign, people saw that the government was simply using its majority to advance its agenda. that he just went through the rigmarole of a parliamentary debate for the show. They also knew that the real platforms where policies were debated and decided were the Umno General Assemblies and the Umno Supreme Council.

That did not happen just as Najib's prime minister, notice. It was the same during Prime Minister Mahathir's first term, from 1981 to 2003, while he was managing Umno

Thus, the first task of the PH government is to take Parliament seriously so that people do the same.

The direction the nation should take, policies and major initiatives should be vigorously debated and decided by Parliament, not by Dr. Mahathir or the Presidential Council of the PH or even the Cabinet. [19659004] One way to restore "the powers and freedom of Parliament as the voice of the people" is to ensure that the bills are not hastily adopted as the previous government did [19659004] allow them to study them properly and to get feedback from their constituents and interest groups so that they can debate intelligently, guided by voters' wishes, in the matter.

PH legislators, when in opposition, had often criticized the Barisan Nasional government for rushing bills to Parliament and not giving enough time for serious debate.

I am sure that PH legislators remember the frustration when the BN government bulldozed, for example The leader of the Sabah Warisan Party, Shafie Apdal, lamented: "Today we are tabling the report and today we are passing it too. "

Now that he is in power, I hope that the PH government – especially the speaker – will make sure to give MPs enough time to study bills and reports in order to Improve the quality of the debate.

And if it involves laws or policies with far-reaching consequences – the National Security Council's 2015 bill that was passed with little debate – the people should have their say.

These proposed laws and policies must be presented to people and public meetings before they are tabled. Parliament. That would mean that it is good of a new Malaysia

PH legislators will also remember that the issues of more than 30 of them concerning the development of 1Malaysia Bhd have was launched last year by Pandikar Amin Mulia. that he is in power, I hope the government PH – specifically the speaker – will ensure that issues adverse to the ruling party are not rejected.

If the 1MDB issue had been debated since DAP MP Tony Pua raised it in 2014 If the issue had been addressed a bit, maybe the situation might not have been not been as bad as it was and maybe the BN could still be in power.

It's a sobering thought. Members of the PH will also recall that when they wanted to debate the report of the Royal Commission on the losses suffered by Bank Negara Malaysia on November 30, Dewan Rakyat Vice President Ismail Mohamad Said, said: it could not be debated because it did not appear on the Order Paper of Parliament.

They would be aware that even though opposition motions appeared on the Order Paper, almost invariably, they were so low that they did not have the time of

Now that 's right. he is in power, I hope that the government of PH – especially the speaker – will not resort to such tactics to prevent the opposition from debating any matter. If that is the case, it will be old Malaysia again.

I would like the speaker to give the members enough time to ask questions during Question Time, and that all questions be dealt with properly. The PH ministers should not emulate some of the former BN ministers who gave evasive answers or a paragraph.

PH ministers – including the Prime Minister – must be in Parliament to answer questions, not just from time to time.

People will look to the PH ministers to see if they are guilty of the very conduct that they have abhorred and vilified in the BN ministers

I would also like to see the deputies of PH freely criticize the government without fear of disciplinary sanctions.

And yes, I think the live broadcast of the parliamentary sessions would be welcomed by the Malaysians. It would certainly be educational and would help citizens to monitor the performance of ministers and deputies

Kathirasen is editor of FMT.

the authors do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.