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GROUP ASSIGNMENT
MPU2163-MLY2
MALAYSIAN STUDIES
UCDF1505ICT (SE)/ ICT
Name : Kho Zhi Yuen, Hoo Jun Yi, Yap Doing Ying, Wong Chun Wai, Ngu Huey Han, Muhammad Firdaus bin Mohd Zazilee, Suhan Raj A/L Manokaran, Boo Kuok Jian, Prrasannath A’L Guna Mohan, Yap Ming Jun, Poh Chun Wai, Fong Suo Xuan
TP Number :TP038123, TP038701, TP038324, TP038678, TP039082, TP039057, TP038464, TP038810, TP038583, TP039148,
Lecturer Name : SURESH A/L S. SAMINATHAN
Submission Date : 2nd of August 2015
TABLE OF CONTENTSTABLE OF CONTENTS...........................................................................................................2
I. ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................................3
II. INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................................4
III. ANALYSIS OF CONTENT...........................................................................................5
1. INTRODUCTION OF PARLIAMENT OF MALAYSIA.............................................5
2. FUNCTIONS OF PARLIAMENT.................................................................................6
3. COMPARISON BETWEEN THE PARLIAMENTS OF MALAYSIA AND UNITED KINGDOM............................................................................................................................7
THE DEWAN NEGARA VS. HOUSE OF LORDS.........................................................7
LORD HANSARD.............................................................................................................7
4. ANALYZE PROBLEMS OF MALAYSIA’S PARLIAMENT.....................................8
POLITICAL EQUALITY AMONG MALAYSIAN CITIZENRY...................................8
LEVEL PLAYING FIELD AMONG POLITICAL PARTIES.........................................8
5. TRAINING MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT FOR SPECIFIC SKILLS.......................9
6. AVOID ABUSE OF STANDING ORDER BY MINISTER.........................................9
7. PROPER SETUP OF YOUTH PARLIAMENT...........................................................10
8. PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMITTEE.........................................................................11
9. SETTING UP OF SPECIALIST PARLIAMENTARY SELECT COMMITTEES.....12
10. IMPROVE ATTENDANCE DURING PARLIAMENT MEETINGS.....................12
11. COMPREHENSIVE DEBATE WHEN PASSING BILLS......................................13
COMMITTEE STAGE....................................................................................................13
ROYAL ASSENT............................................................................................................13
IV. CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................15
V. REFERENCES.................................................................................................................16
VI. APPENDIX...................................................................................................................17
I. ABSTRACT
The project we are given is to analyse the effectiveness of the Parliament and propose
any changes that deem necessary to increase the efficiency of it. The main aspect we are
coming from as a team is to compare successful countries that are running similar systems to
Malaysia and from there, note down any reasons of different outcomes we gathered. The
importance of our work is to show the real behind-the-scenes of the legislature branch and
update while raising the awareness and understanding about the Parliament’s current status to
university and college students.
The scope of our work ranges from first introducing the Parliament of Malaysia to
comparing the legislature branch of Malaysia to other countries and coming up with logic and
rational solutions that we think might solve the problems our country is facing currently. We
used analysis data from online resources, articles from e-newspapers and interviews to help
us complete the project. We are mainly focusing on researching on United Kingdom’s
parliamentary system to get more knowledge about the mismanagement of the Parliament of
Malaysia. The result of the research is significantly useful as they are shown as contribution
to our project.
This project will definitely deepen one’s knowledge about the legislature branch of
Malaysia while providing as an interesting piece of reading to everyone from different age
range.
II. INTRODUCTION
How much do you understand about the legislature branch of Malaysia? Do you only
read articles online and in newspapers? Do you know how much are those filtered or false?
We believe that our readers are aware that the Parliament is regularly referred to as a rubber
stamp. What does the term ‘rubber stamp’ means is in a political metaphor that a person or an
organisation that gives automatic approval without proper consideration.
In facts, the Parliament plays the important role of reviewing the bills and laws
proposed by the Executive and to debate whether the bills should be accepted and made into
amendments. In recent cases, the Parliament is proved to be approving bills without proper
consideration under the orders of the Executive. Members of Parliament especially the
oppositions are silenced from asking further questions or pressured by the Sedition Act. The
act of justice and fairness does not exist while debating for the rights and welfare of the
citizens anymore.
As an example, Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia recently speak
up about wanting to resign because of the perception that the Speaker works under the orders
of the executive body and the concept of separation of powers between the legislative and the
executive branches of government no longer exists. As supported by the interview with YP
Nurul Izzah as well, she has given our team full assurance that indeed this serious issue exists
and should be changed for the betterment of the country.
If this issue continue to proceed, it will greatly affect the country’s ability to produce
good laws for the citizen’s welfare and a corrupted government will be presented.
III. ANALYSIS OF CONTENT
1. INTRODUCTION OF PARLIAMENT OF MALAYSIA
The Parliament of Malaysia is the national legislature branch of Malaysia, based on
the Westminster system. Westminster system is a democratic parliamentary system of
government modelled after the politics of the United Kingdom. The bicameral parliament
consists of the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara. Bicameral system is one in which
legislator are divided into two separate assemblies. The Parliament assembles in
the Malaysian Houses of Parliament, located in the national capital city of Kuala Lumpur.
The Dewan Rakyat consists of 222 members of Parliament elected from single-
member constituencies drawn based on population in a general election using the first-past-
the-post system. A general election is held every five years or when Parliament is dissolved
by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on the advice of the Prime Minister. The age requirement to
stand for election is 21 years old and above. When a Member of Parliament dies, resigns or
become disqualified to hold a seat, a by-election is held in his constituency unless the tenure
for the current Parliament is less than two years, where the seat is simply left vacant until the
next general election.
The Dewan Negara consists of 70 Senators; 26 are elected by the 13 state assemblies (2
senators per state), 4 are appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to represent the 3 federal
territories (2 for Kuala Lumpur, 1 each for Putrajaya and Labuan). The rest 40 members are
appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on the advice of the Prime Minister. Senators must
be 30 years or above, and are appointed to a three-year term for a maximum of two terms.
The dissolution of the Parliament does not affect the Dewan Negara. (Anon., 2015)
2. FUNCTIONS OF PARLIAMENT
First of all, the Parliament has the power to make laws by the way of Dewan Rakyat
and Dewan Negara passing a Bill and assented by the YDPA. A Bill can be proposed by
either Dewan Rakyat or Dewan Negara. A ‘Money Bill’ must be proposed by Dewan Rakyat
and a minister. All Bills passed by both of the Houses of Parliament must follow certain
rules and procedures of the Houses.
Next function is they control how the country’s money is spent. If the money from the
Consolidated Fund is to be used by the government, it must first be approved by the
Parliament. The Dewan Rakyat has also set up a special committee called the Public
Accounts Committee (PAC), which is made up of members of Parliament. The PAC reviews
the spending of money by the government. The PAC conducts these reviews either on its
own, when it is directed by the Dewan Rakyat or when it receives complaints from the public.
After that, the PAC can make recommendations to take further action.1
The third function is overseeing how the federal government runs the country. In
every parliamentary session, there is a daily “Question Time” where members of Parliament
and Senators can question ministers and civil servants. During Question Time, they can ask
for explanations regarding the actions and running of the government. In Dewan Rakyat,
members of Parliament can also ask the Speaker for permission to debate matters of urgent
public importance. If permission is granted and the matter is debated, the Dewan Rakyat can
pass a resolution for the government to take action on the matter.
The last function is they discusses the concern faced by Malaysian. When members of
Parliament gathered to discuss problems faced and want to raise an issue of awareness in
certain fields, they are able to propose a ‘Bill’ to undergo debating and tabling. Through
parliamentary session, maintenance and improvement of living standards of
Malaysians is secured. (Mail, 2010)
1 Quoted in The Malaysian Bar, 24th September 2010, Rakyat Guides 4 - Part 2
3. COMPARISON BETWEEN THE PARLIAMENTS OF MALAYSIA AND UNITED KINGDOM
It is true that the Westminster Parliament of the United Kingdom and Malaysia’s
Federal Parliament uses the ‘first-past-the-post’ system. Both are bicameral legislatures, with
one elected House and another appointed. What are the differences that distance both and
resulted the poor management of Malaysia’s legislature branch?
THE DEWAN NEGARA VS. HOUSE OF LORDS
The Dewan Negara is the upper house of the Parliament of Malaysia. Its members are
nominated by state assemblies’ and also selected by the King on the advice of the
government. The Malaysian parliament has a major weakness as its members are mainly
made up of the ruling party and it has less authority to push a bill away or review it, thus its
existence is just a rubber stamp to pass any bills. In United Kingdom, the House of Lords,
members can be nominated by the public and political parties. Once approved by the prime
minister, appointments are formalized by the Queen. The House of Lords also have vast
authority in passing bills. The Lords plays an essential role in improving bills, highlighting
problems and making them workable. “In the 2013-14 session, Lords spent 532 hours
examining 62 bills.”2 Members of the Lords cast their votes on bills in the chamber by
entering either the ‘content’ or ‘not content’ lobby. The House of Lords plays an important
role in checking and challenging the decisions and actions of the government through
questions and debates.
LORD HANSARD
Hansard is a substantially verbatim report of what is said in the House of Lords each day. It is
available online approximately three hours after a debate and in hard copy the following
morning. The Lords and Commons have separate reports. Lords Hansard includes all
business in the House and its committees, such as debates, division results, Grand Committee
proceedings, written ministerial statements and written answers to questions. A definitive
bound volume is also published some weeks later and represents the final version of
proceedings in the House of Lords. As shown in the appendix, you can see that the Lords
2 Quoted in Work of the House of Lords, section – What the Lord does?
Hansard in the United Kingdom is full of content and well-organised while in Malaysia’s
case, it is shown empty. (Anon., n.d.)
4. ANALYZE PROBLEMS OF MALAYSIA’S PARLIAMENT
As a team, we believe in order to have a transparent parliament, we must set foot
inspecting the wrong-doings in the electoral system as well to further gather more
information to pin point the reasons of the mismanagement of the legislature branch.
POLITICAL EQUALITY AMONG MALAYSIAN CITIZENRY
Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011 uphold the principle of
‘one person, one vote, one value’ in the United Kingdom. The number of voters in each
constituency would be more or less the same. On the contrary, In the recent elections in
Malaysia, for example, the parliamentary seat of Kapar had 144,369 voters, while Putrajaya
had only 15,798 voters. This would help to prevent any form of over-representation, under-
representation and inequality in voting power. To risk stating the obvious, there is a disparity
between the popular vote and the seats won in the federal parliament of Malaysia in GE13;
although Pakatan Rakyat won 51 per cent of the popular vote, the coalition only attained 89
seats, which is only slightly more than 40 per cent of the seats. (Anon., 2013)
LEVEL PLAYING FIELD AMONG POLITICAL PARTIES
The UK Parliament’s commitment to free and fair elections has also led to the
enactment of the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act 2011. This Act removes the Prime Minister’s
discretion in advising the Queen on when to dissolve Parliament and call for fresh elections.
In other words, the Prime Minister would not be able to call for elections to his party’s
political advantage. The elections would then occur regularly in a fixed five-year cycle. This,
of course, is absent in Malaysian parliamentary laws. Article 55 of the Federal Constitution
allows the dissolution of parliament by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (at the request of the
Prime Minister) prior to the five-year limit. This is problematic as it exhibits signs of
manipulating the boundaries to establish political advantage for the incumbent government.
This is what is severely lacking in the Malaysian democratic processes and ought to be
addressed.
As our conclusion, after displaying significant differences of the Parliament between
Malaysia and United Kingdom while analyzing the problems shown above, we can definitely
get a good grip of the idea of how a good Parliament looks and acts like. Through this, we
proposed 7 solutions to further improve the effectiveness of the Parliament.
5. TRAINING MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT FOR SPECIFIC SKILLS
This is a program feature that support the parliamentary development to provision
training for members of Parliament. When they are elected to become one of the members of
Parliament, it is compulsory for them to attend this training. This training is targeted to build
specific skill that associated to their specific role. Other than that, experiential forms of
training programs are given to the members of Parliament to acquired new knowledge, skills
and abilities that can greatly improve performance, to the benefit of the parliament.
Through this training, the members of Parliament develop critical thinking skills and
the way they manage the parliament so that they won’t easily approve on anything without a
solid reason. Given an examples, members of parliament in United Kingdom undergo
training workshops covering subjects such as presentation, communication skills, dealing
with the media, and election procedures to further improve the efficiency of Parliament.
Based on their website, they are also encourage to take responsibility for their own
development and keep up to date with current affairs by reading journals, magazines and
newspapers. You will also stay updated with current issues of your constituents by attending
local functions or through your advice sessions.
Meanwhile in Kenya, the Centre for Parliamentary Studies and Training (The CPST)
provides training and capacity development of both the Members and staff of Parliament.
In a nutshell, we should learn from both Kenya and British to train the members of
parliament in terms of specific skills.
6. AVOID ABUSE OF STANDING ORDER BY MINISTER
What is Standing Order? Standing Order is an order that remains in force until
specifically changed or withdrawn, especially one relating to military or parliamentary
procedure. The Minister have invoked Standing Orders and their deputies in order not to give
way to opposition member of parliament when replying during debate. Moreover, Minister
and their deputies relied on the Standing Orders to avoid answering the question of
opposition of members of parliament, causing abused of Standing Orders. The Dewan Rakyat
speaker and deputy speakers should not interpret the Standing Orders in a narrow manner but
should give due regard to the principle of democracy to prevent inefficient and irresponsible
Ministers and their deputies from seeking refuge under the rules of the House.
Instead the members of parliament should practice things like freedom of speech such
as freedom from arrest in civil cases. Freedom from service of court documents within the
parliamentary precincts Absolute protection of all papers published by order of either House.
As we had conducted an interview with one of the members of Parliament of PKR, we
have come to know that there is currently no parliament immunity because of the existence of
Sedition Act as well.3 Sedition Act was introduced by the British colonial government in
1948 to use against local communist insurgents. Today, this law bans any act, speech or
publication that brings contempt against the government or Malaysia’s nine royal sultans.
Those found guilty of sedition act face fines and jail terms of up to three years. It covers their
speech during debate much too often and offenders are silent and investigated. These should
not be used abusively for the fairness for all members of Parliament. 4
7. PROPER SETUP OF YOUTH PARLIAMENT
Using Scotland as an example, the Scottish Youth Parliament is made up of MSYPs.
This is what we call the Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament.
The work and activities of the Scottish Youth Parliament is the Scottish Youth
Parliament has represented the view of young people in Scotland through three
manifestos launched to coincide with Scottish Parliamentary elections in 2003, 2007 and
2011. Besides, the Scottish Youth Parliament’s 2011 “Change the Picture” manifesto was
published following a nationwide consultation that received 42,804 responses from young
people. (Anon., n.d.)
Meanwhile in Malaysia you can see that some groups are obviously under-
represented. As an example, the initial estimates of the number of youth in each state, where
each 100,000 youth would be given one representation, Sarawak was supposed to have 10
3 Quoted by YB Nurul Izzah, 21th August 2015. 4 Quoted by YB Nurul Izzah, 21th August 2015.
representatives. In the actual youth parliament, only 5 positions were allocated to Bumiputera
Sarawakians.
The youth parliament is a good idea and a good start in allowing more democratic
discourse especially among the younger generation, but it should not evolve into an insider’s
club that is not representative of the larger youth population in the country.
Quoted from one of the YB we interviewed: I applaud the effort of a youth parliament
– but where is the cross partisan engagement? There needs be to proper institutional set up
made to ensure the parliament does not fall victim to the rubber stamp nature of our own
House.5
8. PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMITTEE
In Malaysia the Public Accounts Committee is a standing committee of the Dewan
Rakyat, the lower house of parliament of Malaysia.
The current practice of a member of the ruling party heading the Public Accounts
Committee is one that is not recommended. Unlike Malaysia, in the House of Commons in
the United Kingdom, the tradition has been to choose the Chairman of the PAC from the
Opposition. This is the main reason why the PAC in Malaysia had been unable to have the
same kind of impact as its counterparts in the United Kingdom and other countries, which
continued with the proper practice of appointing an Opposition MP to head the PAC. (Anon.,
n.d.)
It is to ensure that public funds are utilised for purposes prescribed by Parliament so
that corruption, wastage are minimised and to avoid any government financial abuses,
excesses or malpractices. In this regard, the annual PAC report should be transparent and
under good governance. Unfortunately, PAC reports in our country do not attract serious
interest from the public because without an Opposition member to head the committee, the
latter cannot fully realise its role as the highest custodian of public accountability.
As support by YP Nurul Izzah, she mentioned that it would be only right to appoint a
senior member of the Opposition to head the PAC to avoid it becoming obsolete and
5 Quoted by YB Nurul Izzah, 21 August 2015.
ineffective because it is supposed to acts as a check and balance. Half of the membership of
the PAC should come from the Opposition as well, only then can the PAC reinvent itself so
as to be more robust and reform-minded and play a further role in initiating the modernisation
of the public accountability system as an integral part of the modernisation of government.
(Izzah, 2015)
9. SETTING UP OF SPECIALIST PARLIAMENTARY SELECT COMMITTEES
Specialist parliamentary select committees covering various fields and areas such as
finance, economy, education, information technology, housing and defence should be
established in order to increase the efficiency of Parliament. It will enable members of
Parliament to gain real knowledge of their fields and be truly competent in those areas. It
would also give greater meaning to the principle of parliamentary control and ensure closer
scrutiny of the Executive.
In fact, many other Parliaments in the Commonwealth have adopted such a practice
where a specialised committee is set up for almost every Ministry. For instance, the House of
Commons in the United Kingdom has 34 Select Committees, some of which include Public
Accounts Committee, Procedure Committee and Joint Committee on Parliamentary
Privileges, and specialist committees such as Agriculture Committee, Education and
Employment Committee, Environment Audit Committee and International Development
Committee, just to name a few. (Anon., n.d.)
What will we be able to notice if such specialised committees are set up? First and
foremost, better handling of bills from different and various fields. Next, we may be seeing
less of the term ‘parliament is a rubber stamp’ applied because with better knowledge of the
field, MPs know their rights and they will stand firm to pursue it. This eliminates letting the
Executive gets what it wants.
10. IMPROVE ATTENDANCE DURING PARLIAMENT MEETINGS
The problem of lack of quorum in the House is a perennial one, which has been
highlighted time and again. Concern had been expressed by the prime minister himself over
the poor attendance of MPs in the House. As elected representatives, all members of
Parliament, including ministers, should ensure that they are regularly present during question
time or debates. There are many ways to improve the Parliament attendance.
One of the ways to improve the Parliament attendance is raise the salary to those
whom attendance is above 80 % and meanwhile reduce salary or send warning letters to those
below 50%. The second one is set a website or webpage of Parliament that includes
information, daily workings and also attendance, so it can let all the citizens know how the
meetings work and attendance of MPs do. Besides that, introduce an electronic system that
will detect the attendance of member, they need clock in and clock out so that we know their
attendance or whether they will leave early or not. The next way is set a rule to those who are
new members of Parliament to achieve 100% attendance in first 2 months and the last one
is National Party should release records of their own MPs attendance.
As my conclusion, if the parliament implies these rules, we can expect a dramatic
change in the attendance of MPs and this will further lead to the betterment of the parliament.
11. COMPREHENSIVE DEBATE WHEN PASSING BILLS
Another reason why Malaysia’s Parliament is referred to as rubber stamp is because
passing Bills in Malaysia is too easy. They should learn from both Canada and United States
of America of their extra elements applied in different stages to have better control and
comprehensive debate when passing Bills.
COMMITTEE STAGE
In Canada, during Committee Stage, Committee members hold hearings or special
meetings where different people inside and outside government can make comments about
the bill. The committees can ask for government officials and experts, or witnesses, to come
and answer questions. Meanwhile in Malaysia it is only between the Members of Parliament.
ROYAL ASSENT
In the U.S., in order to be recognise as law, a bill had to be signed by the President. His
signature, is important for the bill to be written as law. If the President decline the bill, it will
be passed back to congress to be debated, discuss and revise the bill. Meanwhile in Malaysia,
YDPA only have 30 days to give his consent for the new bill. After 30 days, with or without
the consent of the YDPA, the bill can implemented as law and written in the Federal
Constitution as a recognize law with the power of Article 66. Next, the government should
not neglect bills proposed by ordinary citizens. Their voices might bring benefits for the
government in term of making policies or administration. When it comes to debating bills,
U.S and Canada’s way of doing it is greatly admirable and we should look up to it.
IV. CONCLUSION
As what YB Nurul Izzah mentioned in the interview, Malaysia’s Parliament is in
supreme authority of the ministers, government and Executive. It is just not rumors you see
on Facebook anymore but according to her, this is the reality. Rulings party is taking control
everywhere. “How can there be parliament immunity when Sedition Act is used too often and
abused?” she said. Members of Parliament are silent and investigated when a slightly
sensitive question is brought up. She said so herself that the more effective the parliament is,
the more serious it will be treated. In Malaysia, there is no impact of your argument in the
main house and the Dewan Negara is a sycophant to the government. Let us have a mental
image in mind, in Malaysia, whatever the Executive wants, whatever it desires and decides, it
gets. That is the reality, our parliament is an approval machine and rubber stamp. (Izzah,
2015)
How do we make amendments to this? According to YB Nurul Izzah, as students we
are the new generation, the light, and the ones that can change the situation Malaysia is
facing. As young and informed one's, we need to think rationally and install a democracy,
one where race is no longer the determinant factor but all people are Malaysians and are
proud of their country, not only their race.
Our group’s view on the findings is that this results as an eye opener to all of us. A
path of new knowledge and information is unlocked and it brings us to understand more
about our country and learn how to fight for justice and fairness. We learnt that not
everything that is displayed online and in newspapers is the truth and it can only be
uncovered and shown by the witnesses of the corruptions. We also learnt that indeed we are
the young and informed ones, the country’s future lays within our hands.
V. REFERENCES
Anon., 2013. Aliran. [Online] Available at: http://aliran.com/thinking-allowed-online/ta-online/first-past-the-post-system-a-malaysia-uk-comparison/[Accessed 18 08 2015].
Anon., 2015. Inter-Parliamentary Union. [Online] Available at: http://www.ipu.org/parline/reports/2198.htm[Accessed 27 7 2015].
Anon., n.d. DAP Malaysia. [Online] Available at: http://dapmalaysia.org/all-archive/English/2002/nov02/bul/bul1835.htm[Accessed 28 7 2015].
Anon., n.d. Parliament of U.K. [Online] Available at: http://www.parliament.uk/business/lords/work-of-the-house-of-lords/lords-hansard/[Accessed 26 8 2015].
Anon., n.d. Scottish Youth Parliament. [Online] Available at: http://www.syp.org.uk/about-syp-W21page-94-[Accessed 22 8 2015].
Izzah, Y. N., 2015. YB [Interview] (21 8 2015).
Mail, M., 2010. The Malaysian Bar. [Online] Available at: http://www.malaysianbar.org.my/constitutional_law_committee/myconstitution_making_the_law.html[Accessed 14 8 2015].
VI. APPENDIX
Lord Hansard for Malaysia.
Lord Hansard for United Kingdom.