POLITICAL analysts said parliament should have new rules to ensure MPs attended sittings.  

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia senior lecturer Mazlan Ali said parliament should be stricter. He suggested that it set a benchmark for MPs to meet, with the possibility of them losing their seats if they failed to fulfil expectations.  

The academic said MPs should not give lame excuses for not attending sittings as the dates were set in advance. 

“Someone who did not attend a sitting for six months can lose his seat, but to curb absenteeism, they need to set up a target. For example, only those who meet 80% of the attendance rate are eligible to receive their pension,” Mazlan said. 

“And those who fail to achieve the 80% attendance rate for three sessions in a row could lose their post as an MP. 

“This is all down to them; if they have integrity, they will show up, because they were voted for by the people,” he added.  

In August, Dewan Rakyat Speaker Johari Abdul said he would consider cutting allowances to deter MP absenteeism, adding that there were calls to have the Standing Orders amended to facilitate this. 

“If you don’t come for X hours a day, you don’t get an allowance for that day. I think that is a good idea. They must spend a certain amount of time in the House before they are entitled to the daily allowances they are paid,” Johari had said. 

The daily allowance is about RM500. The speaker said there was a trend of MPs staying for five minutes only, then going out and not coming back. 

In the first meeting of the 15th parliament, only 97 MPs recorded perfect attendance. 

Parliament Standing Order 13 states that there must be at least 26 MPs in the House for proceedings to be held. 

According to parliament’s official website, there were 89 sittings between July 26, 2021 and October 7, 2022. 

Based on an analysis of MP attendance records for the past year, civil society group MyMP said only 15 MPs attended all the sessions, a small number out of the 222 elected representatives in parliament. 

Iman Research programme director Badrul Hisham Ismail disagreed with the move to punish MPs. 

He said the public should be more informed of the duties of an MP. 

“We need to know why they did not attend the sittings; did they just choose not to come or were they caught up with other matters. This is our political culture. 

“Often, we see MPs invited to officiate an event which could be done by a local councillor; often, we see MPs called up to give handouts or charity when the matter can be done by a local councillor or an assemblyman. 

“The public has to know that an MP’s job is to debate policies in parliament, that is why they are called lawmakers,” Badrul said. 

Meanwhile, Pacific Research Center of Malaysia’s Oh Ei Sun said there were at least two factors that encouraged lawmakers to attend parliamentary sittings. 

“One is demand and attention from their voters, and the disclosure of their attendance data. 

“As electoral politics get more competitive, voters would take into account the diligence of their elected representatives. But in the context of a developing country, where voters may value material distribution more than political diligence, this is easier said than done. 

“Another factor is a reform of parliamentary proceedings to demand MPs’ participation, accompanied by empowerment of parliament, such that MPs would feel that their attendance was not a waste of time,” he said. 

Oh added that some senior MPs couldn’t care less about having their allowances slashed. 

“They have been there for so long; cutting their allowances won’t make them change their minds,” he said. 

Earlier this month, Johari reportedly said he seriously considered improving the presentation of MP attendance data on the parliament website.  

He said he needed to study all the legal aspects of it as well as the Standing Orders before he could make any changes. – October 20, 2023.