ACCORDING to the parliament website, the Dewan Rakyat will sit for a special meeting today.

The six-day special sitting will focus on the tabling of the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) mid-term review (MTR) by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.

The 12MP MTR was carried out to evaluate the achievements of the five-year plan in its first two years (2021-2022) and the direction for the next three years (2023-2025) towards achieving a sustainable, prosperous, and high-income nation, taking into account current domestic challenges and global trends.

According to Anwar, who is also the finance minister, the special sitting is intended to discuss the new direction in the 12MP MTR to ensure that the country’s economy remains robust and on the right track towards achieving the Malaysia Madani agenda.

Meanwhile, Bersatu youth chief and Machang MP Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal was reported to have submitted an emergency motion on Thursday to Dewan Rakyat Speaker Johari Abdul. The motion called for a special sitting so that the attorney-general (AG) could explain Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA).

Anwar was reported on Friday to have said that Zahid’s DNAA could not be debated in a special sitting. He added that parliament is not a courtroom to discuss the decision of Justice Collin Lawrence Sequerah.

Perikatan Nasional (PN) parliamentary whip Takiyuddin Hassan, however, criticised Anwar for his statement, saying the prime minister has preempted a decision that should be made by the speaker.

The former minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Parliament) said that it was solely within the speaker’s jurisdiction and discretion to decide whether to accept or reject a motion to debate Zahid’s DNAA. The prime minister did not have any powers or right to determine or decide based on the Dewan Rakyat Standing Orders (SO).

Takiyuddin is right.

Under SO No. 18(2), it is for the speaker to refuse leave to allow the motion unless he is satisfied that the matter is definite, urgent and of public importance. Under SO No. 18(7) the speaker may also refuse to allow any motion submitted to him if he is satisfied that: (a) the mover intends only to take opportunity to address the Dewan Rakyat; or (b) the matter has been discussed in the current session and clarification given by the government on the said matter; or (c) any motion contravenes any of the provisions of the SOs.

That said, Takiyuddin is entitled to his view that parliament could debate Zahid’s DNAA.

“This matter should be able to be discussed by the public, what more by MPs in an official forum of public interest in the Dewan Rakyat,” he said. https://www.themalaysianinsight.com/s/461381

He added that it was increasingly necessary and pressing for Zahid’s DNAA to be debated in Parliament since it impacts not only the legal and judicial institutions, but also the image and integrity of both the government and the country in the eyes of Malaysians and the international community.

But so is Anwar.

Both Takiyuddin and Anwar are entitled to their views, for and against the motion. It is for the speaker to decide, like he decided to reject the emergency motion of Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman to debate the controversial littoral combat ship project.

Don’t preempt the speaker. – September 11, 2023.

* Hafiz Hassan reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.