KUALA LUMPUR: Starting from today's Dewan Rakyat session, government backbenchers will have an additional oral question during proceedings, says Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul.
He said the decision followed a request from backbenchers' chairman Datuk Mohd Shahar Abdullah (BN-Paya Besar), who pointed out that the backbenchers outnumbered the opposition.
"I received a request to increase the number of questions for backbenchers to six in the top 10 during the oral question session, given their larger numbers compared to the opposition. Currently, there are 93 backbenchers and 75 opposition members in this Dewan Rakyat.
"The Rules of Meeting do not specify the order of questions for oral answers. Therefore, starting from the Third Meeting of the 15th Parliament, under Meeting Rule 100, I will allow for more questions from backbenchers in the top 10 positions.
"This decision is not intended to limit the voice of any party, and I am open to reviewing it periodically," he said during the opening speech of the Dewan Rakyat session today.
Several opposition members, including Perikatan Nasional chief whip Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan, expressed concerns over the decision, arguing it would create an imbalance in the number of oral questions favouring the government.
"This new 6:4 ratio is inappropriate and contradicts long-standing practices. Even during the Barisan Nasional era, with a more than two-thirds majority, the ratio was 1:1 for the opposition," he said.
He said that allocating more questions to the opposition aligned with the government's recommendation for a check-and-balance system in the Dewan Rakyat.
"Questions should be more evenly distributed to the opposition, as government MPs do not need to ask questions since they are part of the ruling body," he added.
Previously, the first 10 oral questions in the Dewan Rakyat were evenly divided between government and opposition members.