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Even those who are not avid followers of Malaysian politics would have come across news articles criticising Members of Parliament (MPs) for skipping out on parliamentary sittings. Mainstream news outlets have used sensational headings such as “MPs too Cold and too Tired” or “MPs Need to Say Hi to Wife” to gain widespread public reaction. As a result, it gives the general public the impression that MPs are giving half-baked excuses to cover their absence in parliament, which reflects badly on them. This article will explain the issue at hand, as well as consider whether MPs should be held solely accountable for the overall low parliamentary attendance. In addition, the UKEC’s stance will also be discussed.

The Parliament functions as a legislative body. Hence, a parliamentary sitting is where democratically elected officials meet in a formal setting to debate important issues pertaining to the nation that could potentially be turned into legislation. However, the proceedings of parliament can only be carried out if a minimum of 26 MPs are present in the 222-seat parliament as stated under Standing Order No 13 (1) of the Standing Orders of the Dewan Rakyat. In October, due to low turnout, parliament was halted due to lack of quorum – meaning there were not enough numbers to vote on a decision. In this particular session, the MP of Tebrau had to be halted mid-speech due to lack of attendance in the hall. The Dewan Rakyat Bell is then rung to invite ministers in the lounge to enter the hall to allow proceedings to continue.

Out of a total of 222 MPs in Malaysia, how is it that only 26 MPs turn out in the hall at any point in time? That is less than 12 percent of the total amount of MPs.

Why the low attendance?
While public perception points towards the general lack of accountability of the MPs, this is only true to some extent. In reality, wider social forces might be at play, including the virtue and nature of the Parliament in Malaysia. Just like the media, Parliament sessions have the tendency to focus on sensational aspects of the country’s comings and goings.

Let us first consider the accountability of MPs. As an elected council member, MPs hold the responsibility to represent their region to the best of their capabilities, be it in Dewan Rakyat sittings or in official ceremonies. During the election process, the people were aware that their constituent MPs are going to be representing them in Parliament. Hence, by not attending said parliamentary sittings, MPs are consciously neglecting one part of their duties. However, recent news reports suggest that MPs still refuse to acknowledge the neglect of their duties in Parliament although they have been called out by their colleagues and media outlets time and time again.

A survey conducted by the UKEC Executive Council has shown that 81 percent of respondents said MPs attendance would positively correlate to their vote for them. Since the survey’s target audience are late teens and early twenties in the UK and Eire, these respondents are the individuals who will be able to cast their votes for the first time in the upcoming elections (due to Undi-18). If the youth believe that MPs must fulfill their duties by attending parliament, MPs should take caution that their seats might not be secured in the coming elections if this poor attendance continues.  

However, we must also consider the way Parliament in Malaysia is run before placing all the blame on MPs. It could be argued that a lot of the discussion in Parliament is not of constructive nature, but rather, issues are brought up to provoke the opposing party to react. News headlines such as “Pandemonium in Parliament” are commonly seen throughout the years. In July 2018, a 45-minute shouting match erupted due to MPs discussing whether the UMNO youth who attacked Karpal Singh in 2009 should be referred to as “gangsters”. This is hardly related to policy-making for the betterment of the nation. Furthermore, the issue of timeliness should also be considered in Parliament. In this scenario, an issue from almost 10 years ago was brought up in Parliament when time should instead be devoted towards issues that are more prominent in the status quo. This harping on unconstructive issues might have been a deterring factor to the participation of ministers.

Furthermore, parliamentary sittings are also prone to racial jibes and character assasination, which is an ad hominem argument. As a result of this, it has been observed that a significant chunk of debate in parliament is focused on asking ministers to “apologize” for remarks made. This happened most recently where the holy ashes worn by the MP of Jelutong was linked to the ashes of the dead communist leader Chin Peng. Hence, there is a chance that ministers might opt out of parliamentary sittings so as to avoid being a target to other minister’s backhanded insults. Some backbencher MPs might also decide not to attend as they believe that the rest of the House might care less about what they have to say.

Where do we go from here?
Although there are flaws in the parliamentary procedure, this does not negate the MPs responsibility to attend Parliament, especially when important issues such as the national budget was being tabled in October. 

Parliament is divided into 3 meetings in a session which totals up to only 68 days a year. Hence, it should not be impossible for each party to send more than a handful of representatives per sitting.

As per UKEC’s survey,  a general consensus amongst the Malaysian students in the UK and Eire has urged MPs to be more active in Parliament. This is recommended to be done through making attendance records more publicly available to the masses. Currently, parliamentary records are only available to those who write in to the Dewan Rakyat enquiring about their specific representatives. As to the general picture of attendance, this is mostly only available to those who watch the sittings themselves or are exposed to social media posts about poor attendance in Parliament. 

The UKEC urges the Parliament to publish official attendance records to be made accessible to the wider public. This enables the people to hold their MPs accountable for their performance in Parliament. However, this is not the only course of action that our nation should take. MPs should also be ready to allow for more constructive debates in Parliament by focusing on the subject matter that is actually relevant to the Dewan Rakyat. This could be done by avoiding insults aimed to hit below the belt once and for all. 

Let’s talk policies, not personal ideologies.