KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian can check with Dewan Rakyat on whether their lawmakers are attending sittings of the lower house of Parliament or playing truant.
Deputy Speaker Datuk Mohd Rashid Hasnon said this was the only way for the public to find out whether members of parliament were present in Dewan Rakyat.
“They (public) can write to Parliament to request to check on the attendance of their elected representative,” he said at the Parliament lobby today.
Rashid was responding to questions on the lack of quorum in the lower house of Parliament last Thursday, which had led to a halt in proceedings.
Under Standing Order 13 of the Dewan Rakyat, at least 26 out of a total of 222 MPs must be present in the August house for proceedings to continue.
“At the same time, the MPs will be monitored by the Parliament, especially those who have low attendance.”
Rashid said there were no plans to make the MPs’ attendance sheet public.
He said another measure was to have the Dewan Rakyat’s Sergeant-at-Arms remind lawmakers of the ongoing Dewan Rakyat session.
“There were those who were in the vicinity of Parliament, but did not enter the hall, when the bell was rang.
“The minimum 26 representatives quorum was also reminded to the MPs via loudspeakers to enter the August House”.
The debate on Budget 2020 was brought to a stop after the issue of lack of quorum was raised by Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan), who asked for a ruling from Dewan Rakyat deputy speaker Nga Kor Ming.
Steven Choong Shiau Yoon (PH-Tebrau), who was in the midst of his 2020 Budget debate speech, was told to sit down.
Nga then ordered the Dewan Rakyat Bell to be rung for one minute, and asked MPs in the lounge to enter the hall.
This was not the first time Dewan Rakyat proceedings had to be suspended over a lack of quorum.
On July 25, last year, Dewan Rakyat was forced to halt proceedings temporarily over the same issue.
In that incident, Speaker Datuk Mohamad Arrif Md Yusof had ordered the House to stand down after Datuk Alexander Nanta Linggi (PBB-Kapit) said there were not enough MPs in the hall.
That incident came only a day after Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had voiced his dissatisfaction over the poor attendance rate of his cabinet members and their deputies in Parliament.