HIS first day on the job as Dewan Rakyat speaker saw Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof dealing with a walkout by the opposition, and an MP calling the finance minister a “pondan”.

Appointed the ninth speaker of the Dewan Rakyat in July after Pakatan Harapan won federal power last year, the former Court of Appeal judge from Kedah had his work cut out for him.

Not only is he working to improve the culture and quality of parliamentary debate but he is trying to ensure Parliament is reformed to meet international standards as set by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.

Ariff, 69, has so far shown that he can keep his cool and stay above the rhetoric and drama in the house, establishing himself as a fair chairman since Barisan Nasional lost federal power.

In the nine months and three sittings since taking over, he is particularly pleased with the setting up of six pioneer special select committees.

“When reporters interviewed me last year, it was just a concept but they (the committees) are now formed.

“Except for the Consideration of Bills Committee, which has not had any meeting as we are still looking for a chairman, all the others have been meeting frequently.

“The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) itself has had a busy year under Pakatan Harapan with 22 meetings,” said Ariff in his office to mark the 14th Parliament under the PH administration as its nears its one-year anniversary milestone in federal power.

Apart from the Consideration of Bills Committee, the other additional committees set up under Ariff are Budget, Rights and Gender Equality, Major Public Appointments, Defence and Home Affairs and Federal-State Relations.

In the last sitting, the government also agreed to set up a special committee to look into restoring the status of Sabah and Sarawak as equal partners in the federation of Malaya.

Ariff is hopeful that the committee system will have a “trickle-up” effect on the main house.

“The committees have been non-partisan and kept to the adage of leaving their politics at the door. The atmosphere and attitude towards work are different and I hope the culture that is nurtured in the committees will have an effect on the main house.”

Ariff also said the select committees give different ministries the platform to work together on certain issues, and to call in non-government experts for assistance.

“This becomes a form of check and balance on the government,” he said.

Parliament must be efficient

Among other highlights have been improving the efficiency of question-and-answer sessions, shortening meeting times and the number of adjournment debates.

The Dewan has so far held adjournment debates on three issues – Palestine, the Christchurch shootings and the chemical waste pollution of Sg Kim Kim in Johor.

On the Sg Kim Kim pollution, Ariff said he was proud that the house debated it the same day it was raised.

“When it was raised to me, I knew that it was an important issue that had to be debated and it could not wait.

“This has never happened before. Previously, you have a motion approved and then it goes to the ministers and if they agree, it would be debated. It was a good debate with about five ministers present.

“The MP (Hassan Abdul Karim, Pasir Gudang) who put in the motion was very satisfied with the answers. And so were all of us in Parliament as we realised that the government was doing everything that the papers said they weren’t doing.”

The debate on Sg Kim Kim was also telecast live, which pleased Ariff as the public got to know what was going on and also witness the government being held to account.

“That’s what a responsible Parliament is.”

On limiting the time for the daily question-and-answer session, Ariff said there were sceptics in the beginning but it resulted in having 12 to 15 questions answered on average each day, a “vast improvement” from earlier sessions which only managed to address eight questions, at the most.

“Ministers and MPs were told to be brief and succinct. And the officers are also getting the knack of it with shorter questions and to-the-point answers. That’s all you need. The objective of this session is to get information and to press the government on what is being done. It’s not a debate. In the past, they will stand up and go on a roll and make speeches.

“No, no, no way… they have 30 seconds to ask their questions and it’s enough.

“The same goes for debates where we have a flexible time limit which could be 20 minutes for the main speakers and 15 for the secondary speakers before five to 10 minutes for others. It may be reduced but everyone gets the chance to speak. You don’t need such long debates for the later speakers as most of the points would be covered by the earlier ones.”

The reduced time for debates which allows more MPs to speak worked when the house debated the government’s recent attempt to amend the constitution on the status of Sabah and Sarawak.

“All except for one MP from Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) (managed to debate). That shows that a more flexible approach to time, with certain constraints, will work.”

Ariff said he decided on this approach when he became speaker last year so as to put a stop to midnight sittings, referring to extended sessions until late at night common under the previous administration in order for the house to finish all its business.

The latest session since he took over ended around 10pm when the Dewan debated the constitutional amendment on Article 1(2), which saw 46 MPs speaking.

“There were a few days that we finished at 6pm but on average we ended by 7pm before Maghrib prayers. It’s fair for everyone. Those with children and ministers can leave earlier to do other work.

“Parliament doesn’t have to be noisy and dramatic but it has to be efficient. An efficient Parliament should be able to do its work within the allotted time.

“This is a discipline we have imposed. We told ministers that they don’t need two hours to present a bill. Just state the position clearly. Similarly, they don’t need one hour to answer questions.”

Making Parliament independent

Ariff is also looking at how the Parliamentary Services Act (PSA) can be reinstated to let Parliament be an independent institution able to appoint its own staff and determine its own budget.

“We decide how much we need instead of depending on the executive. Now we are tied up by the Public Services Department on how we can get our staffing. That’s not efficient.

“We want to re-establish the PSA so that Parliament can be an independent institution. If Parliament is beholden to the executive, we won’t meet the international standards.”

However, he still believes in a check-and-balance system, and said that even if the PSA was restored, he favoured consultative process with the executive as opposed to being fully dependent on it.

The PSA was enforced in 1963 but repealed in 1992. It provides for Parliament to conduct its own administration, staffing and financing. – April 30, 2019.