THE first meeting of the fourth session of the 14th Parliament, the first under the government led by Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, ended on Tuesday after 17 days.

Despite the ongoing epidemic, the sitting, conducted under strict adherence to standard operating procedure, with Covid-19 saliva testing twice a week, went on smoothly.

Dewan Rakyat Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun expressed his gratitude over the smooth running of the sitting with no Covid-19 clusters detected, except for nine community cases.

In fact, on the last two days of the sitting, lawmakers were allowed to remove their mask when debating.

The sitting, which began two days after Parliament’s 62nd anniversary celebration, also witnessed the historic signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Political Stability and Transformation between the federal government and Pakatan Harapan (PH) at the Parliament building.

The MOU signed by Ismail and opposition leaders from PH, is aimed at establishing bipartisan cooperation between the two parties, which upholds the spirit of Keluarga Malaysia.

There was also little drama as the debate and questions raised by MPs from both the government and opposition blocs mostly revolved around problems faced by the people in their respective parliamentary constituencies.

Among issues mostly raised were unemployment, the provision of assistance to the people, post-Covid-19, Parliament transformation, economic recovery, the future of national education, high-speed internet access and matters related to Sabah and Sarawak, especially involving the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and the Pan Borneo Highway.

The sitting, opened by Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah on September 13, also saw the tabling of the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP), the country’s five-year (2021-2025) development roadmap by Ismail on September 27.

The 12MP was passed last Thursday after debates by 106 MPs, followed by the winding-up sessions by 27 ministries.

Also approved with a majority voice vote at the sitting were three bills, namely the Temporary Measures for Government Financing [Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)] (Amendment) 2021), the National Trust Fund (Amendment) 2021) and the Windfall Profit Levy (Amendment) 2020).

In addition, five bills were tabled for first reading, namely the National Trust Fund (Amendment) 2021, the Malaysia Deposit Insurance Corporation(Amendment) 2021, the Trade Descriptions (Amendment) 2021, Wildlife Conservation (Amendment) 2021, Small Estates (Distribution) (Amendment) 2021 and the Advocates Ordinance (Sabah) (Amendment) 2021).

The Auditor-General’s Report 2019 Series 2 was also tabled, with the Public Accounts Committee initiating proceedings on 25 punitive issues reported in the document.

Another highlight of this sitting was the motion to elect a deputy speaker, which was originally listed in the Order Paper, after the post fell vacant following the resignation of Azalina Othman Said on August 23.

However, Azalina caught everyone by surprise when she suddenly appeared to preside over the sitting during the afternoon session, explaining that she was asked by Azhar to do so in accordance with Standing Order 7(3) of the Dewan Rakyat.

“I would also like to thank Azalina Othman Said who was willing to chair the meeting several times throughout the sitting. I really appreciate her willingness,” said Azhar on the last day of the sitting.

However, the atmosphere was tense towards the end of the meeting when opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s proposal to debate the Pandora Papers was rejected by the Dewan Rakyat speaker on grounds there was no need for the matter to be expedited, at the expense of other issues listed in the Order Paper.

The motion to annul the the Emergency Ordinances, which should have been tabled and debated on the last day of the sitting in accordance with the Dewan Rakyat Order Paper, was deferred to the next meeting.

According to the Parliament calendar, the next meeting is scheduled for 32 days from October 25, during which Budget 2022 would be tabled on October 29. – Bernama, October 14, 2021.