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KUALA LUMPUR: In a last minute decision, Dewan Rakyat Chairman Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun allowed all lawmakers to enter the House and listen to the presentation of the 2021 Budget.
This followed calls from both sides of the bloc to urge the president to allow all MPs to sit in the House.
On Thursday (November 5), a decision was made after a discussion with party leaders to allow only 80 lawmakers to be present at the Dewan Rakyat as of Friday (November 6).
The leader of the opposition, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, had intervened before the start of the presentation of the Budget 2021 and had asked the president to reconsider the decision.
“I understand that the decision comes after the advice of the National Security Council and the Ministry of Health.
“However, the House has been cleaned up. I think this short session today (Friday) will not affect our health since all legislators were present in the House yesterday and the days before,” he said.
This was supported by Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan), who said that the presentation of the Budget is one of the most important events for parliamentary proceedings.
Azhar, however, said the decision was made by consensus, and even some deputy ministers who appealed to enter the Chamber were unable to do so.
Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman (BN-Pasir Salak) said there is still plenty of room in the House and all lawmakers have followed standard operating procedures (SOPs).
“Therefore, there is no reason why we cannot fill the space with more legislators,” he said.
To this, Azhar then said that he wanted to get the view of the whip bosses who agreed with the decision earlier.
Lim Guan Eng (PH-Bagan) intervened and said that although a consensus was reached, special consideration can be given to the current situation.
The Minister of the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan, said at the time that the motion under the Bylaws had already been submitted and approved.
Azhar also noted that all issues should have been raised earlier.
However, after some time, Azhar decided to allow all legislators to enter the august Chamber.
The Chamber was suspended for 10 minutes to allow the entry of the deputies.
After 10 minutes, Azhar said that he had allowed MPs to enter only on Friday.
“I want to emphasize that the exception is just for today, and I hope all MPs cooperate as much as possible.
“However, the decision to allow 80 determined MPs with lead whips during the entire Dewan Rakyat meeting must be strictly adhered to as of Monday (November 9),” he said.
Azhar also cautioned that any special requests must be notified in advance so that discussions can take place on the matter.
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