OPPOSITION MPs who are members of Parliament’s Standing Orders Committee did not call on it to discuss amendments needed to make a virtual Parliament sitting possible, Umno’s Khairy Jamaluddin said.

Half the committee, which is headed by the Dewan Rakyat speaker, are Pakatan Harapan lawmakers, the science, technology and innovation minister said.

He was responding to his predecessor Yeo Bee Yin’s statement that he, as minister in charge of technology, should be advocating for a virtual parliamentary sitting.

“To my knowledge, a meeting of this committee has not been called to discuss amendments to the standing orders to allow for virtual parliamentary sittings. 

“Perhaps my predecessor would like to ask the speaker or any of her three PH colleagues (the honourable members from Segambut, Sg Buloh and Bayan Baru) why they have not done so,” Khairy said in a statement.

The Rembau MP said amendments are needed to the standing orders for Parliament to convene online, or to hold a “hybrid” meeting, where a limited number of MPs are present physically while others participate online accommodate social distancing.

PH has been criticising the Perikatan Nasional government for failing to explore holding virtual sittings and accused it of using the Covid-19 pandemic as a reason to dodge parliamentary oversight and accountability.

Khairy today did not dismiss the idea and said the speaker should call for a meeting of the Standing Orders Committee to consider the necessary amendments.

“Even if Covid-19 cases are reduced, short of a vaccine, we will need to continue to practise social distancing. This may necessitate the second and third meetings of Parliament be conducted in a hybrid manner. 

“If we decide that this is the safe way for Parliament to convene, at least the procedures set forth in the standing orders would have been amended. To date, there have be no attempts to do so,” he said.

However, Sg Buloh MP R. Sivarasa, a PH member of the committee, said Khairy was attempting to shift the blame to the committee.

“You are now the government. You now can dictate dates and order of business for Parliament meetings,” Sivarasa said in a statement shortly after Khairy’s.

The PKR lawmaker said all that was needed was for a minister to table a motion for the standing orders to be amended, Sivarasa said, and the opposition would support it.

The upcoming sitting, a one-day affair on Monday, however, will not entertain motions or questions by MPs. The only item on the agenda for the day is the royal address.

Sivarasa said the Perikatan government should also discuss with PH ways to overcome challenges in holding a proper Parliament meeting, whether virtually or in a hybrid manner, as the Canadian government did with its opposition.

“Solutions… can be easily found. The opposition will certainly cooperate with the government on this.

“There is no need to look for the Standing Orders Committee or for all sorts of excuses. 

“Just do it or accept that you really don’t want to do it,” said Sivarasa. – May 16, 2020.