The biggest thing to happen at the Dewan Rakyat last week was the ruckus over the PSC on polls reforms.

PARLIAMENT ROUND-UP

PETALING JAYA: If there was one thing that gripped Parliament last week, it was electoral reforms.

On March 28 – the week before – the nine-man Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on Electoral Reforms had concluded its final meeting, and compiled their findings into a full report.

This report made its way to MPs on Monday, ready to be tabled before the Dewan Rakyat the very next day.

Eighteen of the 22 recommendations were agreed upon by all of the committee’s members, which consisted of five BN, three Pakatan Rakyat and one Independent (and former Pakatan) MPs.

The PSC’s Pakatan members were concerned over the tainted voter rolls that had not been cleaned up by the Election Commission (EC), which included 42,000 names who were not listed in the National Registration Department (NRD).

The three opposition PSC men – Gombak MP (PKR) Azmin Ali, Kuala Krai MP (PAS) Hatta Ramli and Rasah MP (DAP) Anthony Loke – would later tell reporters that the committee did not meet its objectives despite having meetings and public inquiries over six months.

With this in mind, Pakatan intended to attach their grievances – in the form of a minority report – to the larger PSC document.

The attempt to do so had been vetoed during the PSC’s March 28 meeting, with the other members voting against putting it in.

Dissatisfied, Pakatan then raised the matter before Dewan Rakyat Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia in the House on Tuesday.

Opposition lawmakers reasoned that there were precedents for attaching minority reports; a practice evident in Parliaments scattered throughout the British Commonwealth.

They claimed that this sort of thing had happened in New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

Pandikar however would have none of it and argued that there was no precedent in any Parliament within the Commonwealth that allowed for it.

Rejecting the minority report, he adjourned the morning session, leaving the rest of the day in his deputy Ronald Kiandee’s hands.

During the afternoon, Pakatan MPs continued to raise the spectre of the minority report, despite Kiandee’s insistence that the matter was final.

Ruckus in the House
BN MPs in the House then proceeded to toss verbal jabs at the Opposition, with the latter responding in kind. Both sides caused a ruckus to develop, which led to a very moody Pandikar returning to replace Kiandee.

But the Speaker’s return did little to calm things down, with BN MPs shouting “liwat” (sodomy) at Anwar, and Opposition MPs shouting “Leave the chair!” at Pandikar.

The Speaker then kicked three Pakatan MPs – Subang MP (PKR) R Sivarasa, Azmin and Kuala Selangor MP (PAS) Dzulkefly Ahmad – out of the House.

Finally, Pandikar then claimed that the Opposition was not interested in debating the PSC, and called for a vote over the debated report, which saw BN MPs voting in favour.

He then adjourned the House at 3:01pm that day; hours earlier than usual.

With the PSC matter concluded on Tuesday, the rest of the week was a muted affair.

Many of the MPs that were present the day before were nowhere to be found, leaving only a smattering of lawmakers around to fill the quorum needed in the House.

Nevertheless, there were a few issues that were raised in Parliament.

One of these included the upcoming Bersih 3.0 rally which is to take place in Dataran Merdeka on April 28.

Non-opposition MPs, including Rembau MP (Umno) Khairy Jamaluddin and Pasir Mas MP (Independent) Ibrahim Ali slammed the rally’s organisers.

On this matter, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nazri Abdul Aziz said that Dataran Merdeka was off-limits for peaceful assembly, as it was not gazetted for this purpose.

Another issue in Parliament this week included Defence Minister’s Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s announcement that all water-based activities in National Service (NS) camps nationwide were to be suspended.

The announcement had followed the death of a trainee at the Terlok NS camp last month. The trainee was suspected of contracting leptospirosis, commonly known as “rat fever”.

In other development, Deputy Education Minister Wee Ka Siong, attacked yet again for the government’s seemingly non-committal stance on Chinese education, said that teacher shortages in this stream had gone down since he assumed his post in 2009.

It was also revealed during the week that the Dewan Rakyat’s sitting will be extended to April 19. Also, the House will not sit on Wednesday and Thursday next week, due to the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong’s coronation on April 11.

With only six days left in this expected last sitting before the general election (speculated in June), it is not clear how the government will have the time to table bills to replace the Internal Security Act (ISA).

It is suspected that the bills and the repeal – a promise made by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak last year – will likely end up a rush job; with little time for debate.