Parliament Hanging In Limbo

It’s a beautiful building, our Parliament building. Built between 1961- 1963 at West Folly Hill near Tasik Perdana in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, it has stood the test of time and been the point where our elected MPs have assembled for close to six decades.

Parliament first assembled on Malaysia Day, Sept 16, 1963. Side note – you know who else first assembled in September 1963? The Avengers, that’s who! (We’re not sure if our current batch of MPs more closely resemble the Avengers or the villains they battle, though… )

The House of Representatives a.k.a Dewan Rakyat a.k.a lower house usually sits three times a year. This year, it was supposed to have been on March 8 – Apr 8, June 14 – July 4 and Oct 4 – Dec 8. Key word is supposed. 

The first sitting for the year’s been suspended thanks to a little emergency declaration. You know, the one our King called on the advice of glorious leader PM Muhyiddin “second time lucky” Yassin last month? It’s called proroguing, and you can read all about what that means here.

It’s a fancy way of saying the Dewan Rakyat has been temporarily shut down, meaning no MP debates, no tabling or second reading of bills (like the much-needed sexual harassment and Independent Police Conduct Commission (IPCC) bills), no sitting of committees. The last time the House was stymied in this way was in 1969 after the May 13 race riots!

Many have continuously questioned the suspension of the Dewan, coincidentally at a time Moo’s premiership was skating on very thin ice indeed (we gave you the skinny in our previous Kita Semua Penghasut column). At the time, Moo insisted the emergency was needed to combat Covid-19.

BUT (we like big ‘buts’ and we cannot lie), that was last month, which was also when Muhyiddin imposed MCO lockdowns on nearly half the country. These days, the gomen’s been getting super-chill and relaxing SOPs left, right and centre; opening up businesses, easing capacity limits in vehicles, restaurants and places of worship; and, even reducing quarantine time for jet-setting ministers.

So, why is it the stoppers have yet to be removed from the wheels of our democracy? After all, the logic goes, if we can meet our pals for coffee and then have our nails done, visit a house of God, or go to work, why can’t our elected reps meet and debate national matters? In other words, MooMoo, why can’t Parliament reconvene?

Hey, it’s not just us asking this. Our deputy speaker, politicians from both sides of the divide and even MPs from other countries are bringing up the same point. Talk about peer pressure!

This argument gets stronger when you remember that our dearest elected reps are first in line, along with Covid frontliners, to get vaccinated beginning at the end of the month. So you could almost say they’d be a Parliament bubble. Except that they aren’t allowed to go to Parliament. So, they’ll be getting first access to the jabs, without doing the job they’re actually being paid by taxpayers to do. 

And all of this is happening just as primary schools are slated to reopen in March. You know, those places that are full of teachers, who won’t have been vaccinated yet, and kids, who can’t be vaccinated for Covid(!!).

There’s been no word from il primo ministro so far, but it sure does look like he’s standing on thinner and thinner ice. Don’t leave us hanging bro! Anyhow, we thought we’d close with a bit of advice to Moo from Smash Mouth:

The ice we skate is getting pretty thin,
The water’s getting warm so you might as well swim.