THE anti-party hopping bill will be the focus of the upcoming Parliament sitting, which will be for three weeks beginning this Monday.

The draft of the Constitution (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2022 and on provisions prohibiting lawmakers from party-hopping will be laid on the table of the MPs this Monday for their reference.

According to Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, in a statement two days ago, the bill is proposed for debate on July 27 and 28, subject to the discretion of the Dewan Rakyat speaker.

Prior to that, he said, engagement session by the Legal Affairs Division and the Attorney-General’s Chambers with government MPs will be held on July 25 and with the opposition MPs the day after.

Once the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara approve the bill, it will be presented to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong between August 11 and 26 for his consent and then sent for gazette between August 29 and September 2.

The bill was among the matters agreed upon in the Memorandum of Understanding on Transformation and Political Stability signed between the federal government and Pakatan Harapan in September last year as a form of bipartisan cooperation.

The issue on cost of living is also expected to be a topic of discussion at the coming sitting, with PAS having proposed for a special session to discuss the matter.

However, Wan Junaidi was reported to have said that there was no need to hold the special session as the MPs could submit motions on the issue during the Dewan Rakyat sitting to be held until August 4.

Meanwhile, nine bills are expected to be tabled at this Parliament session for the second and third reading.

They are the National Forestry (Amendment) Bill 2022, Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Amendment) Bill 2021, Offenders Compulsory Attendance (Amendment) Bill 2021, Anti-Sexual Harassment Bill 2021, the Malaysian Border Security Agency (Dissolution) Bill 2021, Poisons (Amendment) Bill 2022, Control of Padi and Rice (Amendment) Bill 2022, East Coast Economic Region Development Council (Amendment) Bill 2022 and the Independent Police Conduct Commission Bill.

The coming Parliament sitting will also see whether there would be an election for the post of Dewan Rakyat deputy speaker to replace Pengerang MP Azalina Othman Said.

On August 23 last year, Azalina resigned from the post but continued to undertake the duties of a deputy speaker throughout the meeting of that session.

During the sitting on October 25, Wan Junaidi told the Dewan Rakyat that the election for deputy speaker would be postponed to the next meeting.

According to Wan Junaidi, the motion on this matter was originally listed under an order paper of the Second Meeting of the Fourth Session but was postponed to enable amendments to be made to article 57(1)(b) of the Federal Constitution to increase the number of deputy speakers from two to three.

Article 57(1)(b) of the Federal Constitution states that the Dewan Rakyat shall from time to time elect two deputy speakers from among members of the House.

With the Parliament session next week to be held during the transition to endemic phase, members of the house and staff will be required to adhere to the stipulated standard operating procedure, including wearing mask in the building, but they no longer need to test twice a week for Covid, as was required in the last sitting. – Bernama, July 15, 2022.