* Commentary by Mustafa K. Anuar.

LATE Tuesday afternoon, Parliament was delayed owing to a lack of quorum, largely because attendance on the government side left much to be desired.

There were reported to be only five or six government MPs in the House, while the backbenchers, ministers and their deputies were absent.

At least 26 MPs must be present in the Dewan Rakyat before a sitting can start.

The absenteeism of MPs, irrespective of their party affiliations, is disturbing as the elected representatives are expected to partake in debates that involve the concerns and interests of their respective constituents.

It is especially egregious when the MP is absent without valid justification, such as ill-health or their official duties have called them elsewhere.

Dereliction of duty in any profession is inexcusable as it suggests irresponsibility on the part of the individual who has been entrusted to perform certain obligatory and important functions.

And last week, almost the whole cabinet and the deputy ministers were missing from the Dewan Rakyat after lunch, leaving the attending MPs to address empty chairs on the government side. It’s tantamount to being stonewalled.

We are talking of 32 ministers and 38 deputies in the present government, some of whom could have been in the session to provide much-needed answers to the questions that were raised by the MPs.

Worse, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was debating critical issues pertaining to the health and economic crises that no cabinet members saw it proper to attend.

At the very least, their deputies should have been present to uphold the dignity of the august chamber.

To be fair, absenteeism also happened in previous administrations. For instance, then opposition leader Ismail Sabri Yaakob criticised a lack of quorum in Parliament caused by absent MPs in late October 2019 when Pakatan Harapan was in power.

Later in the week, parliamentary proceedings to debate Budget 2020 were temporarily suspended due to a lack of quorum, as though to render the meeting insignificant.

Of course, absenteeism is not peculiar to Malaysia. There are countries, such as India, Ghana and Australia, that have grappled in their own ways with this perennial problem.

We are not saying here that this is a normal practice to the extent that we ought to take it in our stride. For, absenteeism impacts the vital process of making laws and holding the executive to account for its actions.  

And to think that the MPs are handsomely paid by the taxpayers to represent them in Parliament – and yet play hooky.

MPs should be mindful that much time was squandered when parliamentary proceedings were suspended, postponed or cut short under the Muhyiddin Yassin administration. Many pandemic-related issues were thus left unaddressed.

Delayed proceedings in the current session will only mean wasting more precious time.  

In an effort to buck the disturbing trend, then Dewan Rakyat speaker Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof had stated that MPs who skipped sittings would be deprived of their RM500 daily attendance allowance because there were – and are still – no laws to cut the MPs’ salaries as penalty for absenteeism.

But as we can see, that has not been an effective deterrent to the MPs. Perhaps Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun should think of ways to inspire the MPs to discharge their duties thoughtfully.

At a time when the nation is confronted with a number of challenges following the pandemic, it is crucial that the parliamentarians seriously address the urgent concerns and interests of the people.

Let the Dewan Rakyat be known as a well-attended place for robust and dignified debates and not as a less-than-august chamber visited from time to time by truancy. – September 25, 2021.