The Malaysian Parliament is not robust nor is it functioning
effectively, said civil society groups today in putting forth several steps for
reform to make the country's highest legislative body more democratic, ahead of
the legislative body's first sitting of the year starting Monday.
The group, Gabungan Cadangan Penambahbaikan Parlimen (GCPP),
said it was concerned about the effectiveness of the Dewan Rakyat, and have
four recommendations that they will present to Putrajaya soon.
The four proposed reforms for a more "robust
democracy" are reinstating Parliament's independence from the civil
service, introducing the committee system, practicing agenda-setting in the
Dewan Rakyat, and more allocations for research by MPs and constituency development.
Reinstating Parliament's independence from the civil service
could be done by bringing back the Parliamentary Services Act, which allowed
the legislative branch of government to hire its own staff and conduct its own
administration and financing.
The GCPP comprises electoral reform group Bersih 2.0, the
Association for the Promotion of Human Rights (Proham), Institute for Democracy
and Economic Affairs (Ideas), Projek Beres and Tindak Malaysia. Supporting
groups are the Global Move
The Parliamentary services Act 1963, which was repealed in
1992, must be restored in a first step towards making Parliament
administratively and financially independent of the executive," Maria said
in a press conference today.
"Our proposal calls for, among others, an increase in
Standing Committees."
Proham secretariat member Rama Ramanathan said the standing
committees can match the ministry posts to oversee each one and reflect the
composition of the House.
"Parliament now is just not efficient. We have bills
that have been aborted. Besides that, MPs have little time to vet bills with
constituents.
"We have five standing committees but only one (Public
Accounts Committee) deals with issues outside of Parliament," he said, adding
that in contrast, Indonesia has 11 committees and Cambodia has 10 commissions.
The third recommendation, Rama said, refers to the process
of determining the order of business of the House and time allocations for
questions and debates.
"A reasonable number of days per sitting should be
assigned for opposition or non-governmental business," he said.
"Also, to make all parliamentary proceedings more
accessible and accountable, RTM should create a 24-hour parliament channel,
which is unedited and without commentary."
Rama also said that one of the proposals under the last
recommendation is for an allocation to be provided to every MP and senator,
separate from his or her personal allowance salary, to hire a high-quality
research assistant.
"Constituency development funds should be scrapped in
favour of federal funding for MPs' offices and administration funds."
Drawing experience from his single term as an Umno MP, GMM
chief executive officer Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah said that there wa
"Now, MPs have to negotiate and try to balance their
role as a lawmaker and a grassroots leader," he added.
He also said that there should be participatory law-making,
which included all lawmakers to ensure that quality legislations are made in
Parliament.
"Sometimes there are briefings by ministers on certain
laws but whether all MPs are invited for them or only Barisan Nasional MPs is
another question," the former Umno deputy minister said.
Barisan Nasional is the ruling coalition that has formed the
federal government since independence.
Maria revealed that the group had taken eight months to come
up with the recommendations, after consultations with lawmakers from both sides
of the divide.
"We will present this to Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim
(minister in the Prime Minister's department) in his capacity as the minister
in charge of parliamentary affairs in a meeting we hope to have with him in the
next sitting of the Dewan Rakyat," she said. – March 6, 2015
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