Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla
Wahai Rakyat Malaysia yang prihatin,
AsSalamualaikum dan Salaam Sejahtera:
1. Ancaman pandemik Covid-19 yang mencengkam negara dewasa ini, bukan sahaja membahayakan kesihatan dan kehidupan Rakyat dan membantutkan gerakan ekonomi negara, kerana struktur tadbir urus negara melalui perjalanan sihat persidangan Dewan Rakyat yang bakal bersidang semula mulai 02.11.2020 juga berkemungkinan besar turut terkesan.
2. Hatta, pihak yang prihatin termasuk para pemberita telah antara lain menghubungi saya berhubung proses dan tatacara yang terlibat supaya PERSIDANGAN MAYA Dewan Rakyat dapat direalisasikan.
3. Di Ruang Bawah di sini, saya telah muat naik Laporan NEW STRAITS TIMES 19.10.20 bertajuk ” ‘Speaker can move for virrual sitting’ “, di mana saya telah dalam menekankan bahawa tanggungjawab untuk merealisasikan proses PERSIDANGAN MAYA Dewan Rakyat ini terletak di bahu “SPEAKER” Dewan Rakyat, bak kata pepatah “Nak seribu daya, tak nak beribu dalih”
4. Antara petikan komen saya dalam Laporan dalam Bahasa Inggeris itu adalah seperti berikut :
NEW STRAITS TIMES
19.10.2020
‘Speaker can mive for virtual sitting’
Haniff Khatri:
” There is still a window to amend Dewan Rakyat Standing Orders and conduct the third meeting of the third term of the 14th Parliament session, which kicks off on Nov 2, on an online platform.
The online platform would cater to the current demands and uphold democratic practices during a pandemic.
However, Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun has to kickstart the process of change immediately.
SPEAKER INITIATIVE
Lawyer Haniff Khatri Abdulla said the speaker of the lower house was empowered to use his right and privilege to call a meeting in a virtual setting or otherwise.
This is by engaging with the respective party whips and independent members of parliament over his intention to table draft amendments to vote on the first day of the sitting on Nov 2.
“In that meeting, he should also state that he wants to restrict the number of people coming for the first meeting to 50 or 60 and the (respective) parties are represented proportionately according to their seats (in the Dewan Rakyat).”
He said Azhar would also have to seek an audience with Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah to seek his endorsement, and at the same time notifying Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan of his intentions.
On whether Takiyuddin had to attend the audience with the king, Haniff said it was optional. However, since the government had to propose the motion and set the order paper, his support and by extension the magnanimity of the prime minister would be crucial in getting it on the schedule in time.
“When Azhar meets the king he has to state that the virtual session has to be made possible due to the rising (Covid-19) cases while providing minutes and feedback from the whips as (proof of) documentation.
“The king also has to been given an assurance that the seat allocation would be done fairly by the Speaker’s Office as Azhar was serving under his appointment.
“The king would then peruse the documents and give his endorsement based on hearing experts’ views. The king’s endorsement here is crucial for Azhar to move the Attorney-General’s Chambers (A-GC) to aid the speaker in coming up with the draft amendments.
“He only has to write to the chambers after he gets the nod and inform them that he has fulfilled the formalities and needs the draft amendments of the standing orders to cater for a virtual sitting to be prepared.”
DRAFTING AMENDMENTS
Haniff said the draft amendments could take a maximum of three hours for the A-GC with its 1,200 legal experts to prepare. The document would need to be sufficient to cover the expansion on the method of the sessions, debates and how votes are to be cast and counted.
“To make matters simple, a new chapter on virtual meetings should be added in the Standing Orders and all related rules besides (allowing) exemptions to earlier clauses before expanding it to (include) teleconferencing.
“The caveat should be that the speaker has the power to call virtual sittings or sessions at his discretion at any stage when there are extenuating circumstances such as a pandemic.”
He said after the amendments were agreed upon, it would be sent back to the speaker and Takiyuddin’s office for verification and fine-tuning before it is submitted to the A-GC to finalise the documents.
It would then be sent back to Takiyuddin’s office so that it gets on the Dewan Rakyat’s Order Paper.
“On day one of the meeting, this should be the one and only agenda to put the motion for a vote. After this is debated and passed, they can straight away go virtual during lunch.
“It’s not like an act of Parliament that needs the nod of both upper and lower houses. It automatically becomes effective after the vote is passed and only requires a simple majority.
“I can’t imagine any one of them saying that they don’t want a virtual sitting in this scenario, as that would defeat democracy, especially when travel is restricted.
“In fact, if done right, virtual meetings could be our containment strategy to prevent clusters arising from Dewan meetings until a vaccine is found.
“It will also uphold parliamentary democracy while protecting people from harm. But all this takes will and the first most crucial step is up to Art (Azhar).”
INTERNET CONNECTIVITY
Haniff added that the speaker should exercise his discretion on lawmakers, especially those from rural parliamentary seats, who are struggling with Internet connectivity when it comes to virtual attendance.
“There will be some hiccups and if they are absent due to valid Internet issues, they should not be penalised as long as the meeting fulfils the quorum of 26 persons.” ”
DEMI AGAMA DAN NEGARA TERCINTA
NOTA: SAYA MEMBUAT PENGUMUMAN-PENGUMUMAN PENTING DARI MASA KE SEMASA EKSKLUSIF MENERUSI SALURAN TELEGRAM BERIKUT:
