©The Malaysian Insider (Used by permission)
Inspired by fresh calls by the Dewan Rakyat Speaker for parliamentary reform, electoral reform watchdog Bersih 2.0 urged Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia to walk the talk by meeting with civil society to initiate the process towards a transparent and accountable Parliament.
Bersih 2.0 steering committee co–chair Maria Chin Abdullah said to date, all attempts to meet on these matters with federal ministers and Pandikar himself have received no response.
She also urged the Speaker to lead by example, and not to allow debates to carry on into the early morning hours, as was the case with the passing of the Prevention of Terrorism Act and the amendments to the Sedition Act.
Maria pointed out that this was not the first time Pandikar was advocating for change, adding that in July last year, he called for the Pakatan Rakyat to set up a Shadow Cabinet.
She said that in most Westminster systems, a Shadow Cabinet is formed by the party with the second largest number of seats in the Dewan Rakyat.
"As such, Pandikar Amin must publicly support a motion for the Standing Orders Committee to examine the official recognition of a Shadow Cabinet, which would be given additional resources and time allocations to question their ministerial counterparts," Maria added.
Yesterday, in explaining the retraction of his resignation letter as Speaker, Pandikar Amin said he told Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak that he wanted reforms to be implemented so that Parliament and the Speaker's office would no longer appear as if they only acted on the orders of the government.
Among the reforms he wanted was the removal of the minister in charge of Parliament so that Parliament was fully in charge of its own administration. The minister with this portfolio is usually a minister in the Prime Minister's Department.
Additionally, he wanted the Parliament building to be upgraded to have infrastructure and facilities that were on par with government buildings in Putrajaya and with the Palace of Justice.
He said Najib listened to these proposals and asked for time to fulfil them, as these matters had to be approved by the Cabinet.
Maria said the Speaker's demands echoed those made by the recently–formed Parliamentary Reform Proposal Group, which included the re–introduction of the Parliamentary Services Act, to revive the doctrine of separation of powers; the expansion of Parliamentary Committees, so Parliament can have effective oversight of the executive and develop high quality legislation; reforming agenda–setting in the Dewan Rakyat, to allow for the prime minister’s Question Time and more robust debate on critical issues; and, for fair and adequate allocation of resources to MPs.
She urged Pandikar to continue the struggle for reform in an open and transparent manner.
"No Parliament can be functional and inclusive without consultation with the rakyat.
"Nor can any country claim to be democratic if the Houses of Parliament are shrouded in secrecy," Maria said. – May 20, 2015