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Parliament of Malaysia

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Politics and government

   The Malaysian Houses of Parliament in Kuala Lumpur.
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   The Malaysian Houses of Parliament in Kuala Lumpur.

   The Parliament of Malaysia is the national legislature of Malaysia,
   based on the Westminster system of Parliament. It consists of the Dewan
   Rakyat (House of Representatives or literally People's Hall, in Malay)
   and the Dewan Negara (Nation's Hall in Malay; however, it is commonly
   referred to as the Senate). Members of the Dewan Rakyat are known as
   members of Parliament (MPs) while members of the Dewan Negara are
   called senators.

   A general election is held every four or five years to elect
   representatives to the Dewan Rakyat; members of the Dewan Negara, like
   those of the House of Lords in the United Kingdom, are appointed.
   Members of Parliament are commonly referred to as MPs.

   The Parliament assembles in the Malaysian Houses of Parliament, located
   in the national capital city of Kuala Lumpur.

History

   Historically, none of the states forming the Federation of Malaysia had
   parliaments before independence. Although the British colonial
   government had permitted the forming of legislative councils for
   Malaya, Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak, these were not the supreme makers
   of law, and remained subordinate to the British High Commissioner. The
   Reid Commission, which drafted the Constitution of Malaya — Malaya
   gained independence in 1957, ahead of the other states that would later
   form Malaysia — modelled the Malayan system of government after that of
   Britain's, with a bicameral parliament, one house being directly
   elected, and the other being appointed by the King — just like the
   British House of Commons and House of Lords. Originally Parliament had
   no specific place to convene until with the completion of Parliament
   House in 1962, which comprises a three-storey main building for the two
   houses of Parliament to meet, and an 18-storey tower for the offices of
   Ministers and members of Parliament.

   In 1963, when Malaya merged with Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak to form
   Malaysia, the Malayan Parliament became the Parliament of Malaysia,
   following the same system as before. Originally under the 1957
   Constitution, most Senators were elected by the state assemblies in
   order to provide representation of state interests; changes to the
   Constitution in 1963 saw each state receiving two members, with the
   rest (including members for federal territories) being appointed by the
   King on the advice of the Cabinet. When Singapore seceded from Malaysia
   in 1965, its Legislative Assembly became Parliament, and it ceased to
   be represented in the Parliament of Malaysia.

   Parliament has been suspended only once in the history of Malaysia, in
   the aftermath of the May 13 racial riots in 1969. From 1969 to 1971 —
   when Parliament reconvened — the nation was run by the National
   Operations Council (NOC).

   Debates in Parliament are broadcast on radio and television
   occasionally, such as during the tabling of a budget. Proposals from
   the opposition to broadcast all debates live have been repeatedly
   rejected by the government; in one instance, a Minister said that the
   government was concerned over the poor conduct of the opposition as
   being inappropriate for broadcasting. The prohibitive cost ( RM100,000
   per sitting) was also cited as a reason.

Scope

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

   Parliament's members are permitted to speak on any subject without fear
   of censure outside Parliament; the only body that can censure an MP is
   the House Committee of Privileges. Such " 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, Bumiputra (Malays and indigenous people)
   privileges, 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 May 13 racial riots.
   Members of Parliament are also forbidden from criticising the King and
   judges. 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 May 13 incident.

   The executive government, comprising the Prime Minister and his
   Cabinet, is usually drawn from members of Parliament; most of its
   members are typically members of the Dewan Rakyat. After a general
   election or the resignation or death of a Prime Minister, the King
   selects the Prime Minister, who is the Head of Government but
   constitutionally subordinate to him, from the Dewan Rakyat. In
   practice, this is usually the leader of the largest party in
   Parliament. The Prime Minister then submits a list containing the names
   of members of his Cabinet, who will then be appointed as Ministers by
   the King. Members of the Cabinet must also be members of Parliament. If
   the Prime Minister loses the confidence of the Dewan Rakyat, whether by
   losing a no-confidence vote or failing to pass a budget, he must submit
   his resignation to the King, who will then appoint a new Prime
   Minister. The Cabinet formulates government policy and drafts bills,
   meeting in private. Its members must accept "collective responsibility"
   for the decisions the Cabinet makes, even if some members disagree with
   it; if they do not wish to be held responsible for Cabinet decisions,
   they must resign. Although the Constitution makes no provision for it,
   there is also a Deputy Prime Minister, who is the de facto successor of
   the Prime Minister should he die or be otherwise incapacitated.

   Although the judiciary is constitutionally an independent branch of the
   government, after the 1988 constitutional crisis, the judiciary was
   made subject to Parliament; judicial powers are held by Parliament, and
   vested by it in the courts, instead of being directly held by the
   judiciary as before. The Attorney-General was also conferred the power
   to instruct the courts on what cases to hear, where they would be
   heard, and whether to discontinue a particular case.

Procedure

   Parliament meets from Monday to Thursday when it is in session, as
   Friday is part of the weekend in certain states such as Kelantan.

   A proposed act of law begins its life when a particular government
   minister or ministry prepares a first draft with the assistance of the
   Attorney-General's Department. The draft, known as a bill, is then
   discussed by the Cabinet. If it is agreed to be submitted to
   Parliament, the bill is distributed to all MPs. It then goes through
   three readings before the Dewan Rakyat. The first reading is where the
   minister or his deputy submits it to Parliament. At the second reading,
   the bill is discussed and debated by MPs. Until the mid-1970s, both
   English and Malay (the national language) were used for debates, but
   henceforth, only Malay was permitted, unless permission was obtained
   from the Speaker of the House. At the third reading, the minister or
   his deputy formally submit it to a vote for approval. A 2/3rds majority
   is usually required to pass the bill, but in certain cases, a simple
   majority suffices. Should the bill pass, it is sent to the Dewan
   Negara, where the three readings are carried out again. The Dewan
   Negara may choose not to pass the bill, but this only delays its
   passage by a month, or in some cases, a year; once this period expires,
   the bill is considered to have been passed by the house.

   If the bill passes, it is presented to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong
   (King), who has 30 days to consider the bill. Should he disagree with
   it, he returns it to Parliament with a list of suggested amendments.
   Parliament must then reconsider the bill and its proposed amendments
   and return it to the King within 30 days if they pass it again. The
   King then has another 30 days to give the royal assent; otherwise, it
   passes into law. The law does not take effect until it is published in
   the Government Gazette.

   The government attempts to maintain top secrecy regarding bills
   debated; MPs generally receive copies of bills only a few days before
   they are debated, and newspapers are rarely provided with copies of the
   bills before they are debated. In some cases, such as a 1968 amendment
   to the Constitution, an MP may be presented with a bill to be debated
   on the same day it is tabled, and all three readings may be carried out
   that day itself. In rare circumstances, the government may release a
   White paper containing particular proposals that will eventually be
   incorporated into a bill; this has been done for legislation such as
   the Universities and University Colleges Act.

   Although the process above assumes only the government can propose
   bills, there also exists a process for Private Member's Bills. However,
   as in most other legislatures following the Westminster System, few
   members of Parliament actually introduce bills. To present a Private
   Member's Bill, the member in question must seek the leave of the House
   in question to debate the bill before it is moved. Originally, it was
   allowed to debate the bill in the process of seeking leave, but this
   process was discontinued by an amendment to the Standing Orders of
   Parliament. It is also possible for members of the Dewan Negara
   (Senate) to initiate bills; however, only cabinet ministers are
   permitted to move finance-related bills, which must be tabled in the
   Dewan Rakyat.

   It is often alleged that legislation proposed by the opposition
   parties, which must naturally be in the form of a Private Member's
   Bill, is not seriously considered by Parliament. Some have gone as far
   as to claim that the rights of members of Parliament to debate proposed
   bills have been severely curtailed by incidents such as an amendment of
   the Standing Orders that permitted the Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat to
   amend written copies of MPs' speeches before they were made.
   Nevertheless, it is admitted by some of these critics that "Government
   officials often face sharp questioning in Parliament, although this is
   not always reported in detail in the press."

Relationship with the government

   In theory, based on the Constitution of Malaysia, the government is
   accountable to Parliament. However, there has been substantial
   controversy over the independence of the Malaysian Parliament, with
   many viewing it simply as a rubber stamp, approving the executive
   branch's decisions. Constitutional scholar Shad Saleem Faruqi has
   calculated that 80% of all bills the government introduced from 1991 to
   1995 were passed without a single amendment. According to him, another
   15% were withdrawn due to pressure from non-governmental organisations
   (NGOs) or other countries, while only 5% were amended or otherwise
   altered by Parliament. Shad concludes that "the legislative process is
   basically an executive process, not a parliamentary process."

Checks and balances

   Theoretically, the executive branch of the government is held in check
   by the legislative and judiciary branches. Parliament largely exerts
   control on the government through question time, where MPs question
   members of the cabinet on government policy, and through Select
   Committees that are formed to look into a particular issue.

   Formally, Parliament exercises control over legislation and financial
   affairs. However, the legislature has been condemned as having a
   "tendency to confer wide powers on ministers to enact delegated
   legislation", and a substantial portion of the government's revenue is
   not under Parliament's purview; government-linked companies, such as
   Petronas, are generally not accountable to Parliament. In his 1970 book
   The Malay Dilemma, future Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad stated:
   "In the main, Parliamentary sittings were regarded as a pleasant
   formality which afforded members opportunities to be heard and quoted,
   but which would have absolutely no effect on the course of the
   Government. ... The sittings were a concession to a superfluous
   democratic practice. Its main value lay in the opportunity to flaunt
   Government strength." Critics have regarded Parliament as a "safe
   outlet for the grievances of backbenchers or opposition members," and
   meant largely to "endorse government or ruling party proposals" rather
   than act as a check on them.

   There have been only six Select Committees formed since 1970, when
   Parliament reconvened after the May 13 Incident. Of these, three were
   formed between 2002 and 2005. Although question time exists for
   Parliament to check the power of the executive, it has been argued that
   the question time allotted for MPs to question the government on its
   policies is insufficient or ineffective. Shad has calculated that as
   each question time session lasts only an hour, at the most, twelve
   questions can be asked. Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang of the
   Democratic Action Party (DAP) calculated that over the space of three
   days (from 10 October to 13 October 2005), only 32 questions were
   answered orally. Of these 32 questions, only nine or 28% percent were
   answered by the Ministers concerned. The rest were answered either by
   Deputy Ministers (41%) or Parliamentary Secretaries (31%).

   However, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in charge of
   Parliamentary Affairs Nazri Aziz stated in 2006 that question time
   would be expanded to 90 minutes later in the year. He also proposed
   televising question time; opposition lawmakers have proposed televising
   whole Parliamentary sessions on a regular basis before, but their
   suggestions were rejected by the Cabinet. It remains to be seen if
   Nazri's suggestion will be taken up.

   Time is allocated for discussion of the annual budget after it is
   tabled by the government's representative (usually the Prime Minister);
   however, most MPs spend much of the time questioning the government on
   other issues. Shad contends that although about 20 days are given for
   discussion of the budget, "the budget debate is used to hit the
   government on the head about everything else other than the budget.
   From potholes to education policy to illegal immigrants."

   If Parliament votes to reject the budget, it is taken as a vote of
   no-confidence, forcing the government out of office. The government
   will then either have to reform itself with a new cabinet and possibly
   new Prime Minister, or call for a general election. As a result, Shad
   states that "MPs may criticise, they may have their say but the
   government will have its way" when it comes to the budget.

   With the judiciary, it is possible for the courts to declare a
   particular act of Parliament unconstitutional. However, this has never
   occurred. Parliament is not involved in the process of judicial
   appointments.

Department of Parliament controversy

   In early October of 2005 the Minister in the Prime Minister's
   Department in charge of parliamentary affairs, Nazri Aziz, announced
   the formation of a Department of Parliament to oversee its day-to-day
   running. The leader of the Opposition, Lim Kit Siang, immediately
   announced a "Save Parliament" campaign to "ensure that Parliament does
   not become a victim in the second most serious assault on the doctrine
   of separation of powers in the 48-year history of the nation".

   Nazri soon backed down, saying he had meant an office (although he
   stated jabatan, which means department; pejabat is the Malay word for
   office) and not Department (Jabatan) of Parliament. The New Straits
   Times, a newspaper owned by the United Malays National Organisation (a
   key member of the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition) wrote in an
   editorial that "ministerial authority was established over Parliament
   the building" and not Parliament the institution and that "[i]f the new
   'department' and its management and staff do their jobs well, the
   rakyat (people) would have even more of a right to expect their MPs to
   do theirs by turning up for Dewan sessions, preserving that quaint
   tradition of the quorum, on behalf of their constituencies."

   Lim was dissatisfied with such a response and went ahead with a "Save
   Parliament" roundtable attended by several MPs (including Nazri) and
   non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Although Lim thanked Nazri (the
   only Barisan Nasional MP in attendance), he stated that the proposed
   department remained a threat to Parliament's independence, and had to
   be "seen in the context of the relentless erosion and diminution of
   parliamentary powers and functions by the Executive". In a statement,
   the roundtable found that "Nazri’s explanations were not convincing"
   and urged "Nazri to halt all implementation of the Cabinet decision to
   establish a Department or Office of Parliament until MPs and the civil
   society could approve and support the proposal".

   On October 13 in the Dewan Rakyat, Ahmad Shabery Cheek (BN MP for
   Kemaman) tabled a motion to reinstate the Parliamentary Services Act
   1963 (which would provide for a parliamentary service independent of
   the Public Service Department currently handling parliamentary affairs)
   that had been repealed (upon the unilateral suggestion of then Speaker
   of the House, Zahir Ismail) in 1992. Ahmad Shabery demanded to know if
   the government would make the status of parliament as an independent
   institution clear, and stated that "Aside from nice flooring, chairs
   and walls, we don’t even have a library that can make us proud, no
   in-house outlet selling copies of different Acts that are passed in
   Parliament itself and no proper information centre."

   Nazri responded that the motion would have to be referred to the House
   Committee for review. Shahrir Abdul Samad, chairman of the Barisan
   Nasional Backbenchers' Club, then insisted that the Act be immediately
   restored without being referred to the Committee, and called on all MPs
   who supported the motion to stand. Several immediately stood, with some
   Opposition MPs shouting "bangun, bangun" (stand up, stand up).
   Following Shahrir's lead, a majority of the BN MPs also stood,
   including some frontbenchers. However, several ministers, including
   Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar (who had supported repealing the Act
   in 1992) remained seated. Nazri then stated that the matter would
   remain with the Committee, as he did not want it dealt with in a
   slipshod manner.

   The following day, Lim called on Kamaruddin Mohd Baria, who would have
   taken the post of Parliament Head of Administration, not to report for
   duty in his new post. Meanwhile, the Dewan Negara House Committee held
   a specially-convened meeting, which called on the government to revive
   the Act and to call off all moves to change the administrative
   structure of Parliament. The President of the Dewan Negara, Abdul Hamid
   Pawanteh, also stated that he had not been informed "at all" by the
   government regarding the new department or office of Parliament. Later
   the same day, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Radzi Sheikh
   Ahmad stated that the government had agreed to revive the Act.

   However, on October 17, Nazri refused to budge on the issue of the new
   post of "Parliament Head of Administration" (which would make the
   current Parliamentary Secretary, who is accountable to Parliament and
   not the executive, redundant). He also stated that the Parliamentary
   Service Act would have to go through the Dewan Rakyat House Committee
   and endorsed by the Dewan Rakyat before being sent to the cabinet for
   approval. In his blog, Lim slammed Nazri for overlooking "the fact that
   when the Parliamentary Privilege Act was repealed in 1992, it was not
   at the recommendation of the Dewan Rakyat House Committee but merely at
   the unilateral request of the Speaker."

Current composition

   CAPTION:
   Summary of the 21 March 2004 Dewan Rakyat (House of Representatives)
   election results

   Votes % of vote Seats +/-
   National Front (Barisan Nasional): 4,420,452 63.9 198 +51
       United Malays National Organization (Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu
   Bersatu, UMNO) 2,483,249 35.9 109 +38
       Malaysian Chinese Association (Persatuan China Malaysia, MCA)
   1,074,230 15.5 31 +2
       Malaysian Indian Congress (Kongres India Se-Malaysia, MIC) 221,546
   3.2 9 +2
       Malaysian People's Movement Party (Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia,
   Gerakan) 257,763 3.7 10 +4
       United Traditional Bumiputera Party (Parti Pesaka Bumiputera
   Bersatu, PBB) 383,664 5.5 11 +5
       Sarawak United People's Party (Parti Rakyat Bersatu Sarawak, SUPP)
   6
       Sarawak United People's Party (Parti Rakyat Bersatu Sarawak, SUPP)
   6
       Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (Parti Demokratik Progresif
   Sarawak, SAPP) 4
       United Sabah Party (Parti Bersatu Sabah, PBS) 4
       United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (Pertubuhan
   Pasok Momogun Kadazandusun Bersatu, UPKO) 4
       Sabah Progressive Party (Parti Maju Sabah, SAPP) 2
       United Sabah People's Party (Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah) 1
       People's Progressive Party (Parti Progresif Penduduk Malaysia, PPP)
   1
       Liberal Democratic Party (Parti Liberal Demokratik, LDP) -
   Democratic Action Party (Parti Tindakan Demokratik, DAP) 687,340 9.9 12
   +2
   Alternative Front (Barisan Alternatif) coalition: 1,668,998 24.1 8 -24
       Islamic Party of Malaysia (Parti Islam SeMalaysia, PAS) 1,051,480
   15.2 7 -20
       People's Justice Party (Parti Keadilan Rakyat, PKR) 617,518 8.9 1
   -4
   Non partisans (and others) 139,438 2.1 1 -2
   Overall total 6,916,138 100.0 219 +26
   Source: The Star, Kuala Lumpur
   Dewan Negara
   Mode of Appointment Seats
   By King             44
   By State Rep.       26
   Total               70

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