KUCHING, Feb 18: The Parliament and also Parliament Select Committees (PSC) should be allowed to convene even during the current Emergency to provide important Parliamentary oversight especially over the country’s approach towards Covid-19 and the biggest national vaccine rollout scheduled to begin at the end of the month.
Bandar Kuching MP Kelvin Yii emphasised that the PSC plays a pivotal role to provide a bi-partisan parliamentary oversight to empower a more transparent, trustworthy, and unique legislature that is appropriate for the current pandemic.
“This will also help build confidence and acceptance of the government’s approach towards the pandemic, especially during the vaccine rollout.
“When I was elected as the chairman of PSC for Health, Science and Innovation, one of the agenda that we pushed immediately were for a fortnightly or monthly briefing by the Ministry of Health (MOH), the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) and other relevant agencies briefings on the government’s Covid-19 public health strategy and the national Covid-19 vaccination programme.
“We intend to get a briefing from the government to understand their overall approach. We will call up the private sector, NGOs and other experts to give their input, and we’ll come up with a report to feedback to the government so that there is an effective and efficient ‘all-of-government and ‘whole-of-society’ strategy and approach in the war against Covid-19 pandemic,” he said in a statement today.
Yii thus expressed deep disappointment to be informed that all PSCs were not allowed to convene when Parliament sittings were suspended after receiving a call from the House’s Secretary Nizam Mydin who have sought legal advice from the Attorney-General Chambers (AGC).
“I was informed that this is pursuant to Clause 14(1)(a) of the Emergency Ordinance 2021, which states, inter alia, that for so long as the emergency is in force, the provisions relating to the summoning, proroguing and dissolution of Parliament in the Federal Constitution shall not have an effect,” he added.
He pointed out that this was a reversal of the Speaker Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun’s initial position taken on Jan 12 confirming that all-party parliamentary group and all PSC shall continue to be in force.
“Such move by the government is worrying and a threat to democracy as the executive cannot have free rein over the country’s affairs, without being held accountable by Parliament.
“This also clearly contravenes the Federal Constitution where it clearly states in Article 43(3) of the Constitution that ‘The Cabinet shall be collectively responsible to Parliament’.
“The Constitution never envisaged that Parliament would be suspended in a proclamation of Emergency. In fact, for 35 years from 1977 to 2012, Parliament had operated under four Proclamations of Emergency.
“That is why the government’s move to suspend Parliament and all legitimate activities of Parliament in the guise of an Emergency is somewhat draconian and a huge step back in a parliamentary democracy,” he added.
Without legislative scrutiny and accountability, Yii stressed that the Executives became overly powerful without checks and balance which would be extremely dangerous during the time of pandemic when unprecedented amounts of funds to manage the Covid-19 pandemic were being allocated.
“I believe the letter written by Deputy Speaker Azalina Othman Said to defend the sanctity of the legislature deserves bipartisan support.
“I urge the Speaker of the House to also make the same stand and defend the sanctity of the Parliament and also the principles of separation of power. We need Parliament to convene and the PSC to do its work especially during a pandemic such as this,” he urged. -DayakDaily
