PARLIAMENT should be separate and distinct from the judiciary and executive branches in conformity with the reformation spirit, said Dewan Negara president Rais Yatim. 

He said this can be achieved by amending the Parliamentary Services Act 1963 and the Houses of Parliament (Privileges and Powers) Act 1952. 

“The administration of parliament is still controlled by the government of the day via a department (under the purview of the Prime Minister’s Department). Certainly, that is not the way and this is not a matter to be taken lightly. 

“... We have to ask one question: how do we change the scenario? The answer (is) we change the law,” he said during the “Parliament Lecture Series 1.0: Resetting the Malaysian Economy” in Kuala Lumpur today. 

For parliament to be independent, he said the legislative branch needs to have its own financial and administrative resources, as well as the authority to determine the operation of parliament internally, as it is for the United States’ Congress and the United Kingdom’s House of Commons. 

The Parliamentary Services Act 1963 paved the way for the Dewan Rakyat to act as an independent body in running its own affairs, selecting its staff and controlling its expenditure. However, it was repealed in 1992. 

On the Houses of Parliament (Privileges and Powers) Act 1952, he said under the law, the speaker of the Dewan Rakyat and president of the Dewan Negara have the executive power to control MPs’ behaviour when they exhibit a lack of decorum. 

Stating a few examples of misbehaviour by MPs deemed wrongful under the law, he said the amendment needs to be undertaken to increase the fine for such an offence, and for the Standing Order to conform with the Houses of Parliament (Privileges and Powers) Act 1952. – Bernama, January 27, 2023.