PRIME Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said ministers and deputy ministers must improve on their attendance record to Parliament, and only miss sessions when they have to tend to their ministerial responsibilities.

Dr Mahathir said it was understandable if cabinet members are not able to have a full attendance during a Parliamentary session as they have other duties to attend to.

“They must attend to those duties because Parliament is almost the whole day, and people can’t work (during) 20 days of parliamentary sittings. That’s not practical,” he told reporters at the lobby of Parliament house today.

“We need (them) to attend to their bureaucratic work as well.”

“I think they should improve, but they should have proper excuses for not attending,” he said of the attendance records of most cabinet members.

Last week, Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin questioned the absence of government lawmakers during the opposition’s debate on the royal address last Wednesday.

Khairy noted that the entire front row, which was meant for cabinet members, was empty during opposition leader Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s speech. – July 23, 2018.