TODAY’S parliamentary sitting was only a meeting and was not a real sitting as debates were not allowed, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said.

Slamming the special parliamentary sitting via a virtual press conference, Dr Mahathir said the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government is merely interested in staying in power.

“It was only a meeting at the Dewan Rakyat and an explanation session. It was not a parliamentary sitting as there were no debates.

“The emergency declaration as well as the National Recovery Plan were not discussed.

“Members of Parliament were not allowed to vote. They could not accept, reject or amend,” the 96-year-old Langkawi MP said.

He said it was clear that the government was only interested in staying in power and not in the loss of lives and livelihood due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Today’s so-called special parliamentary sitting was just not good enough,” Dr Mahathir added.

Debates and voting are not on the agenda of the five-day Dewan Rakyat meeting as the government is not tabling any bills.

Opposition MPs today took Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Parliament) Takiyuddin Hassan to task for not tabling the emergency proclamation and ordinances in Parliament, in accordance with Article 150(3) of the federal constitution, for MPs to debate.

Dewan Rakyat speaker Azhar Azizan Harun was also called a “government lapdog” for not allowing motions by MPs calling for the same.

Instead, Takiyuddin announced that the ordinances passed during the emergency period had been revoked on July 21.

He also said the government had decided not to advise the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on issuing a new emergency declaration when the current one expires on August 1. – July 26, 2021.