Pro-Pakatan HAKAM concerned the one-day parliament sitting not enough for a vote of no confidence

(MMO) – The National Human Rights Society (HAKAM) has questioned the proposed one-day Parliamentary sitting on May 18 as it does not allow parliamentarians to debate on the government’s actions.

Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has announced that the parliamentary sitting would be convened without any debates and will only accommodate the Royal Address and the first reading of a few government Bills.

The Constitution requires Parliament to be summoned from time to time and in any event within six months of the last sitting.

“This strikes a balance between allowing the government to do things and holding it to account so that the peoples’ representatives can scrutinise government actions, ask questions, propose alternatives and force them to reveal information and justify their actions,” said HAKAM in a statement.

“Summoning Parliament just to allow for its opening by the King without doing more subverts this critical parliamentary role. It fulfils the letter but not the substance of the constitutional requirement. Its validity is clearly questionable,” said HAKAM.

It added that the questioning of the government’s actions in Parliament would inspire public confidence in any measures taken by the government.

The government had been issuing edicts and spending from the public purse without sanction from Parliament. All such measures must be grounded in laws enacted by Parliament.

HAKAM contended that failure to get Parliament’s permission would mean having “executive rule without control.” This clearly undermines the constitutional edifice of the Rule of Law.

All this points to the need to convene Parliament for a sufficient period of time to allow for it to fulfil its constitutional role. The NGO added that a parliamentary session limited to a mere opening by the King and even allowing for a few questions was clearly inadequate.

“The Covid-19 pandemic cannot be used as a cover to bypass the role assigned to Parliament by the Constitution. Worse, it will establish a precedent that will undermine democracy itself,” said HAKAM.

HAKAM proposed that the government take the cue from other jurisdictions such as in the UK, Australia and Singapore which have convened their parliamentary sittings through teleconferencing, social distancing and wearing of masks during the Covid-19 outbreak period.