Month: June 2021

Categories
News

Mahathir to meet with Agong on Thursday, other party leaders yet to receive invitations

Parti Pejuang Tanah Air (Pejuang) today confirmed that its pro-tem chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad will have an audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah at Istana Negara on Thursday.

“The official letter from the palace was received last week. However, the time for the audience has yet to be ascertained,” Pejuang Information chief Ulya Aqamah Husamudin told Bernama when contacted here today.

There have been reports of late that the King will be meeting the leaders of all political parties over what is speculated to be the emergency or the convening of parliament.

Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) Information chief Datuk Wan Saiful Wan Jan and MCA secretary-general Datuk Chong Sin Woon, when asked the same question, said they had no information on the matter, while Gerakan president Datuk Dr Dominic Lau Hoe Chai and MIC president Tan Sri S. A. Vigneswaran, said they had not received any invitation from Istana Negara regarding an audience with Al-Sultan Abdullah.

UMNO deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, on the other hand, said he was not sure whether or not UMNO had received such an invitation.

“I heard so. But I have not been to the office… I’m not so sure whether UMNO has received such a letter or not,” he said.

On a different note, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) secretary-general Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail told Bernama to refer the matter to Datuk Seri Khairuddin Abu Hassan, who is a member of the opposition’s committee lobbying for an end to the state of emergency.

“Refer to Khairuddin… he might have more information than us,” he said referring to the media report Monday which quoted Khairuddin as saying that the King had agreed to grant an audience to all political party leaders, including from the opposition.

On February 9, the Prime Minister’s office announced the appointment of 19 members of the Special Independent Emergency Committee 2021 (SIEC), chaired by former Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria.

Other members include former Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Samsudin Osman, former Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Norian Mai, former Chief of Defence Force Tan Sri Zulkifli Zainal Abidin, former Health director-general Prof Tan Sri Dr Mohamad Taha Arif, former Sabah state secretary Tan Sri Sukarti Wakiman and also Saifuddin Nasution.

The committee was set up under Section 2 of the Emergency (Essential Powers) Ordinance 2021 and will advise the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on the ongoing Emergency and when it should end.

The National Security Council and the Prime Minister’s Department will be secretariats for this committee.

– BERNAMA

Categories
News

Zambry Abdul Kadir appointed new BN secretary-general

The Barisan Nasional (BN) supreme council unanimously agreed to appoint Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir as BN secretary-general.

The appointment of the former Perak Menteri Besar was announced by BN chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in a statement after the BN supreme council general annual meeting was conducted online tonight.

Ahmad Zahid, who is also UMNO president, said the meeting aslo unanimously agreed to appoint Perlis Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Azlan Man as the state’s BN coordinating committee chairman.

He added that the supreme council also decided to strengthen the party’s machinery in several states to help vaccination registration efforts, especially among the elderly, person with disabilities (PwD) and residents in rural areas.

“The supreme council also urged all parties to comply with the standard operating procedure (SOP) to curb the spread of Covid-19, which is worrisome at the moment,” he said.

Ahmad Zahid said that at the meeting, the annual report and financial report dated Dec 31, 202 were tabled.

The annual general meeting was attended by all four BN component parties, UMNO, MCA, MIC and Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS).

Meanwhile, Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan who was appointed BN secretary-general on January 5, tweeted that he had withdrew from the post in February and that is was approved by Ahmad Zahid.

“The positions of UMNO secretary-general and Muafakat Nasional (MN) joint secretary-general (which he currently occupies) are more than enough responsibilities,” he said.

– BERNAMA

Categories
Info

Malaysia Parliament

The Parliament of Malaysia is the national legislature of Malaysia, adopted based on the Westminster model.

The bicameral parliament consists of the Dewan Rakyat (House of Representatives) which is the lower house and the Dewan Negara (Senate), the upper house.

The member of Dewan Rakyat is referred as ‘Member of Parliament’ (MP) while the member of Dewan Negara is referred as ‘Senator’.

The powers of the Parliament

As the ultimate legislative body in Malaysia, the Parliament is responsible for passing, amending and repealing acts of law. It is subordinate to the Head of State, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, under Article 39 of the Federal Constitution.

Members of Parliament are permitted to speak on any subject without fear of censure; the only body that can censure an MP is the House Committee of Privileges. Parliamentary immunity takes effect from the moment a member of Parliament is sworn in, and only applies when that member has the floor; it does not apply to statements made outside the House.

An exception to this rule are portions of the constitution related to the social contract, such as the Articles governing citizenship, the priorities of Bumiputera, the Malay language, etc. — all public questioning of these provisions is illegal under the 1971 amendments to the Sedition Act, which Parliament passed in the wake of the 1969 13 May race riots. Members of Parliament are also forbidden from criticising the Yang di-Pertuan Agong or any Ruler. Parliamentary immunity and other such privileges are set out by Article 63 of the Constitution; as such, the specific exceptions to such immunity had to be included in the Constitution by amendment after the 13 May incident.

Members of Dewan Rakyat

The Dewan Rakyat consists of 222 members of Parliament (MPs) elected from single-member constituencies in a general election using the first-past-the-post system. Whichever candidates that obtained the most votes in the constituency will be considered elected as the representative.

A general election is held every five years or earlier with the dissolution of Parliament by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on the advice of the Prime Minister. 

Malaysians are eligible to register as voters when they reach 18 years, which has just been amended in the recent years, although the execution has not been in place yet. However voting in the elections is not compulsory. The minimum age to stand as a candidate in the election is also 18 years old.

When a Member of Parliament passes away, resigns or become disqualified to hold a seat, a by-election will be held in the constituency unless the tenure left for the current Parliament is less than two years, where the seat is simply left vacant until the next general election.

The criteria to be qualified as a candidate for the Member of Parliament is that an individual must be a Malaysian, not less than. 18 years old, mentally sane, not bankrupt and not appointed to the Dewan Negara.

Members of Dewan Negara

The Dewan Negara consists of 70 Senators; 26 are elected by the 13 state assemblies (2 senators per state), 44 members (including 2 from the Kuala Lumpur, 1 from Putrajaya and 1 from Labuan) are appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on the advice of the Prime Minister.

Senators must be a Malaysian, 30 years or above, and are appointed to a three-year term for a maximum of two terms. The dissolution of the Parliament does not affect the Dewan Negara.