THE Dewan Rakyat speaker and not the law minister should decide when parliament can convene under the present state of emergency, DAP’s Lim Kit Siang said.

This is in line with the federal constitution, which espouses the doctrine of the separation of powers, the veteran opposition politician said.

“No minister – not even the prime minister – can control or overrule parliament, as otherwise it would make nonsense of the concept of parliamentary oversight and scrutiny of the executive and to be a constitutional check-and-balance of the executive,” Lim said in a statement.

“When parliament convenes is not decided by (Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department) Takiyuddin Hassan or the prime minister, but by the Malaysian constitution, which the cabinet, including Takiyuddin, has violated in not allowing parliament to meet.”

He was referring to Takiyuddin’s recent statement that the government will allow parliament to reconvene “when the time is right” because of the Covid-19 pandemic and emergency.

He said this is not the minister in charge of laws and parliament’s call to make.

Instead, the Dewan Rakyat speaker and parliamentary committees should be consulting the relevant agencies on what safeguards to take against Covid-19 while convening parliament.

“(The government) should leave the consequential matters like what safeguards to take in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic to the speaker and the relevant parliamentary committees,” said Lim, who is Iskandar Puteri MP.

Takiyuddin is wrong to think that he controls parliament and decides whether parliament can convene or not, as he is not more powerful than the speaker, he said.

“Does Takiyuddin realise that the speaker ranks No. 13 on the protocol list, as published in the Federal Order of Precedence, while a cabinet minister, including the minister in the prime minister’s department (parliament and law), is lower down the list, ranked No. 16 in the protocol list?

“So, it is a ridiculous notion if the minister in the prime minister’s department regards himself as the master of parliament, who alone decides whether parliament can meet or not.” – May 3, 2021.