THE parliamentary debate on the seven ordinances, which were passed during the state of emergency, will be postponed to the next meeting, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.

He announced the decision in Dewan Rakyat at the start of this morning’s sitting.

The next Dewan Rakyat meeting will be held from October 25 to December 16.

It was reported yesterday that the government had decided to table the seven emergency ordinances for debate and approval in the Dewan Rakyat, in accordance with Article 150 (3) of the Federal Constitution, which states that all emergency ordinates must be tabled in both houses of Parliament, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said in the order paper.

On January 11, former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced the Emergency Proclamation to give the Perikatan Nasional government more powers to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.

During this time, his administration approved seven ordinances without legislative scrutiny or approval.

These included laws to increase the fines for breaking standard operating procedures (SOP), allowing federal and state governments to use government funds without legislative approval, and for the government to use private hospital facilities to help fight the pandemic.

However, just days before the proclamation was due to expire on August 1, former minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (parliament and law) Takiyuddin Hassan (Kota Bharu-PN) surprised Parliament by saying that the cabinet had cancelled the ordinances on July 21.

In an immediate response to Takiyuddin’s bombshell, Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah said that he was unaware of the cancellation and had explicitly told the government that the ordinances should be tabled in accordance with the Federal Constitution.

Caught out by the situation, Perikatan Nasional then cancelled the last two days of the five-day Dewan Rakyat sitting.

Following which, 14 Umno MPs announced that they had lost confidence in Muhyiddin and he resigned on August 16. – October 12, 2021.