THE government should amend parliamentary Standing Orders so the Dewan Rakyat can be enhanced, said the Parliamentary Caucus for Multi-Party Democracy.

“It is critical that amendments are made to the Standing Orders, given the weakness of current rules, regulations and parliamentary process that have weakened the role of parliament as an independent, professional and effective legislative branch of government,” said the caucus in a statement today.

At the same time, the caucus also launched a report commissioned by Bersih 2.0.

The report, entitled “Unlocking the Power of the Dewan Rakyat: The Rule Revisions Needed Now”, was authored by parliamentary expert, Maha Balakrishnan.

Among the proposed reforms in the report are;

1. Management of confidence and no-confidence motions.

2. Control of parliamentary time and agenda by reducing government control over the parliamentary calendar, recognising the will of the parliamentary majority and improving certainty and consistency to complete the business of the house.

3. Improving opportunity structures for Private Members’ Business (PMB) by creating specific weekly slots for PMB, ensuring fair and equitable disposal of business during Private Members’ time, reducing restrictions on Private Members’ motions and simplifying Private Members’ Bill process and detaching it from government control.

4. Enabling the public to petition parliament by overhauling the parliamentary petitions process in the Dewan Rakyat, setting up both paper and e-petition systems, establishing an obligatory response mechanism and establishing a new standing Petitions Committee.

5. Improving the ability of parliamentary committees to operate independently for their agendas, and have power over holding their hearings and how they publish reports, and the issuance of guidelines for stakeholders such as scopes of power, witness obligation and protection, and inquiry processes. – August 3, 2022.