YOU have to agree with former prime minister Najib Razak that Parliament can dispense with the 28-day notice rule and convene an emergency session.

Parliamentary standing orders allow for a meeting to be called quickly and in circumstances deemed urgent by the speaker.

Najib was right to call out those who had administered the country. They should know that the parliamentary process for a notice to be given 28 days before a meeting can be set aside under Standing Order 9(2)(a) of the Dewan Rakyat.

This provides that in cases of urgency, as may be determined by the speaker, the 28-day notice period may be dispensed with, and in that event “the longest notice possible shall be given”.

It was Najib, as the leader of the Dewan Rakyat, who represented to the speaker under Standing Order 11(3) that the public interest requires that the Dewan Rakyat should meet for a “special meeting” (Mesyuarat Khas) to debate a motion on the tragic downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.

Following that representation, the secretary of the Dewan Rakyat issued a notice dated July 18, 2014, to MPs that a special meeting of the Dewan Rakyat would be held for one day on July 23, 2014, at 10am.

It was a five-day notice, a three-working-day notice, in fact.

So yes, Parliament can convene quickly. – June 22, 2021.

* Hafiz Hassan reads The Malaysian Insight.

* 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.