Dewan Rakyat sitting begins

By Arfa Yunus, Nuradzimmah Daim - July 13, 2020 @ 10:54am

KUALA LUMPUR: The first full sitting of the Dewan Rakyat this year kicked off this morning at 10am since the Perikatan Nasional (PN) administration took over Putrajaya in early March.

The last sitting on May 18 lasted for about an hour and it was only to hear the royal address by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah with no debates allowed by Members of Parliament.

The one hour sitting was due to the ongoing threat of Covid-19 which saw Malaysia going under a movement control order since March 18 to contain the spread of the virus.

With Speaker Tan Sri Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof presiding over the House, he informed that the Royal Address should be tabled during this sitting.

The sitting which begins today is conducted with strict standard operating procedures (SOP) in place.

Mohamad Ariff also announced that Port Dickson MP Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is Opposition leader after obtaining support from opposition members.

Apart from that, Mohamad Ariff also wished Langkawi MP Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad a happy 95th birthday, which the latter celebrated last week.

Today's sitting started with Kota Samarahan MP Rubiah Wang asking Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to state the current economic position, performance of the country's economic growth and unemployment rate amid the pandemic.

Other topics expected to be discussed in the Lower House today include cybersecurity, discount on assessment tax and other Covid-19-related issues.

The controversial vote of no-confidence by Dr Mahathir will unlikely be tabled today but motions to replace the current speaker and deputy speaker will be tabled by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin today.

Meanwhile, Mohamad Ariff and deputy Speaker Nga Kor Ming (DAP – Teluk Intan) are expected to be replaced by former Election Commission (EC) chairman Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun and Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said (Umno – Pengerang).

According to items three and five of the Order Paper, the motions to appoint Azhar and Azalina would be tabled by Muhyiddin and that the latter said the duo have agreed to their appointments should they be nominated and elected by lawmakers in the Lower House.

For the record, second deputy speaker Datuk Mohd Rashid Hasnon (Bersatu - Batu Pahat) is not affected by the motion.