The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih 2.0) is offering to organise a virtual parliamentary sitting for three consecutive days to enable parliamentarians to debate Yang Di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah’s speech and pass a motion of thanks for him.
Bersih, in a statement today, suggested that the virtual parliamentary sitting takes place from May 19 to May 21 and chaired by the deputy speaker Nga Kor Meng or any member of Parliament well-versed with the standing orders.
The virtual parliamentary sitting would be broadcast live via Facebook.
“Bersih 2.0 is inviting the ruling and opposition parties to discuss the details of the virtual parliamentary sitting if they really want the speech from the throne, which is actually the government’s message.
“In 2019, the speech from the Throne was debated for 12 days and more than 100 parliamentarians took part,” the statement reads.
While the virtual sitting will not be official, Bersih said prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s plot to block MPs to debate the speech and thank his majesty under the pretext of Covid-19 would be exposed before Malaysians who follow the sitting on Facebook.
Bersih added that it has made technical preparations and is now awaiting positive responses from political parties.
Bersih also drew a comparison with other countries which adopted the technology to hold parliamentary sittings.
“The year 2020 is not 1349 when the English Parliament was last closed because of a plague.
“Today, the UK Parliament adopts hybrid proceedings where up to 50 MPs are allowed to take part physically in the House and 120 others are to join virtually.
“Virtual parliaments in various forms are also happening in the EU and South Africa,” it said.
Today’s one-day-only Dewan Rakyat sitting took place with the only agenda being the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong delivering a speech. – Malaysiakini