Lawmakers who cannot sit in the Dewan Rakyat hall due to the new 80-MP cap would still be able to view the debates through video streaming, Tan Sri Annuar Musa said today.
Annuar was responding to Muar MP Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman’s tweet on the new Dewan Rakyat rules which only allow 80 out of Malaysia’s 222 MPs to be physically present inside the Dewan Rakyat hall at any one time.
Annuar, who is also Barisan Nasional (BN) secretary-general and Federal Territories minister, said there should be clearer explanations on the new restriction issued by the Dewan Rakyat Speaker today.
“Should be explained so that it can be understood that although only 80 persons can be in the hall at any one time, MPs can still follow proceedings through the video and close circuit system facility in the workspace or offices around the Parliament building,” he said on Twitter.
Syed Saddiq had on his Twitter wrote: “Team @ParlimenDigital can help. All 222 MPs should carry out their duties in full. The session in May was only for one day. For the November session, don’t limit MP duties to just 80 members only”.
In a lengthy statement on Facebook, Syed Saddiq said that any excuses by the government to not carry out Parliament proceedings digitally was unacceptable since the Covid-19 situation has been going on for almost a year, pointing out that the youth-led initiative Parlimen Digital was able to successfully pull off online proceedings in July involving 222 youth representatives.