IT is safe to assume no Malaysian would be happy with their MP being consistently absent from parliamentary proceedings. Thus, it is understandable that people were furious when the Budget 2020 debate was halted due to a lack of quorum on October 17.

The Standing Orders, which govern proceedings in Parliament, state that there must be at least 26 MPs to form a quorum – meaning that there were only 25 lawmakers, at most, in the 222-seat Dewan Rakyat at the time. If most MPs could exhibit such an attitude towards the government’s annual budget, what are the odds of them participating in debates on peripheral, yet consequential, issues?

To rub salt into MPs’ wound, the deputy speaker resorted to ringing the bell for one minute to ask members of the House to fill the quorum, causing some to sprint back, embarrassingly, to the Dewan Rakyat.

Unfortunately, it was not the first time that parliamentary proceedings were disrupted due to a lack of quorum. Proceedings were postponed on July 24 last year for the same reason, and again the bell was rung – something that can now be construed as a reminder to MPs of their sacred parliamentary duties. It has always been said that politicians are akin to adolescents waiting to be schooled, and this holds true in Malaysia’s Parliament.

The de facto law minister’s efforts to tackle the issue of absenteeism among government MPs, such as monitoring them and making attendance mandatory, further the notion that our lawmakers are in need of schooling. I would hazard the solution to the chronic absenteeism issue first requires acknowledging the institutional deficit that has been preventing Parliament from operating at full capacity.

It is certainly not my intention to absolve absent MPs of their dereliction of duty. After all, our parliamentary democracy demands that lawmakers consistently represent their constituents in the House. But at the same time, a hasty judgment on supposedly slouching MPs would be erroneous if it does not take into context the reduced legislative power of backbencher MPs.

Aside from being Malaysia’s primary legislative institution, Parliament is also one of the avenues where policies crafted by the government of the day are scrutinised and challenged. However, it has been suggested that Parliament’s independence remains a work in progress, as it is largely under the control of the government.

For starters, almost all bills that have been passed into law were effectively the government’s, having been proposed or introduced by the executive (government). Though the functions of an elected government include legislating bills in accordance with the promise made to voters, the power of making laws should not be confined solely to the executive.

Perhaps, one of the reasons why backbenchers are frequently absent from proceedings is because their power to affect – never mind introduce or legislate – bills is virtually non-existent. Most government-tabled bills are bulldozed through, while any genuine disagreement from backbenchers during debates is either, at best, acknowledged but not acted on, or at worst, ignored. It has been confided in me that some backbencher MPs find their job in Parliament extremely frustrating, even bordering on meaningless, and that it would be better for them to focus on providing services to their constituents.

Parliament allows time for opposition lawmakers to debate government bills, and the performance of some of these MPs is praiseworthy. However, given that the legislative agenda is very much controlled by the executive, there is little incentive for ministers and deputy ministers to be present in the House to listen to debates. This exacerbates the absenteeism problem, and Malaysians are treated to a view of an empty front bench. At most, the executive is present only during voting on bills – an act to get the numbers needed for a simple majority.

The power held by backbenchers can be strengthened through the private member’s bill (PMB) system, which allows the introduction of bills and motions not from the executive. With increased legislative power, backbencher MPs would be more inclined to attend proceedings. However, I’ve argued in a research piece that the system is not practised properly, with its process at the behest of the executive. The introduction of an PMB predicated on the government’s tacit approval defeats the purpose of the system, whose very existence is meant to reduce the executive’s power in Parliament.

Therefore, there is very little backbenchers can do to affect legislative change. And since there is very little to legislate in a supposedly legislative institution, these MPs are best remembered for heckling and causing a scene.

In the latest fun-to-do, lawmakers from both sides of the divide take photos of empty seats across the aisle to embarrass their political adversaries. From being an institution for the legislative process and to keep the government in check, Parliament has been reduced to a place where MPs snap pictures to show that they are in attendance and their foes are not.

The crux of the matter remains that Parliament continues to be subservient to the executive.

No doubt, our democracy will keep suffering if parliamentary absenteeism persists. We, as taxpayers, have the right to be indignant and critical of our MPs. However, we must recognise that to resolve the absenteeism problem, Parliament must be reformed into an institution that is free from the executive’s interference.

After all, MPs are only as good as Parliament wants them to be. – November 8, 2019.

* Kenneth Cheng has always been interested in the interplay between human rights and government but more importantly he is a father of two cats, Tangyuan and Toufu. When he is not attending to his feline matters, he is most likely reading books about politics and human rights or playing video games. He is a firm believer in the dictum “power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will”.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.