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KUALA LUMPUR: The 222 deputies have been able to attend Dewan Rakyat’s session on the presentation of the budget for next year.
The decision was made after President Azhar Harun was pressured by both the government and opposition MPs to have all MPs hear the budget personally.
Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was the first to raise the issue and urged Azhar to allow the 222 MPs to enter the House.
He argued that if all the deputies had been allowed to participate in yesterday’s session, “then why not today”?
“Let all the deputies enter,” he said seconds before Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz was about to present the budget for next year.
The request was supported by Bung Moktar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan), who also asked that all MPs be allowed entry.
Noh Omar (BN-Kuala Selangor) stood up to support Anwar and stated that there was nothing wrong with all MPs being present in the House for two hours.
“This goes against the principles of democracy. Let all the deputies come in, ”he added.
Azhar had initially responded that a decision was made yesterday with the consensus of all the whips of the party to allow only 80 deputies to enter the Chamber.
However, he finally relented after all the appeals and pressure from several other MPs.
The bell was then rung for several minutes to signal all MPs to enter the Dewan Rakyat.
Azhar said he had imposed the original restriction on the number of MPs in the House based on a request from the party’s own whips.
“In the future, if there is any such request, please send a notice first,” he added.
Yesterday, Azhar said that only 80 of the 222 MPs will be allowed in Dewan Rakyat at any time from today, and the sessions will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. starting Monday.
Vice President Rashid Hasnon said that 41 of the 80 deputies will be from Perikatan Nasional (PN) and the rest from the opposition and independents.
He said this is to stop the spread of Covid-19 in Parliament.
The ruling was immediately criticized by opposition MPs, who felt that Parliament should have better plans to curb the spread of the virus.
