March 09, 2014
For the first time ever, the first day of Parliament meeting on Tuesday will be a walk in the park for government lawmakers as the opposition bench will be vacant following a planned boycott to protest Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's conviction on a sodomy charge.
Anwar (pic), who is the opposition leader, had announced that opposition MPs would only be present for the King’s traditional address to the parliament when he opens the second session of the second meeting on Monday but will not take part in the events after that, including the traditional banquet.
Anwar had said he did not want to rub shoulders with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak and Chief Justice Tan Sri Ariffin Zakaria, who will be attending the opening.
"I don't want to smile like a hypocrite with people who are cruel," Anwar had said during his speech at the Pakatan Rakyat convention in Shah Alam yesterday.
However, Anwar said he will write to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to inform that Pakatan MPs would not participate in the banquet.
"I would, however, inform the King that we would gladly participate if he invites us for another banquet that does not feature the PM and the CJ," he had said.
Anwar said on March 11, Pakatan MPs will be attending the nomination for the Kajang by-election which will now be contested by PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail after Anwar was disqualified following his sodomy conviction.
Later in the afternoon, the Pakatan Rakyat MPs will attend the Kuala Lumpur High Court for DAP veteran Karpal Singh's sentencing after the latter was found guilty of committing sedition against the Perak Sultan recently.
Earlier, prior to his conviction, the timing of the nomination, which clashed with the first day of Parliament sitting had not escaped Anwar's notice, and he had lambasted the Election Commission (EC) for "deliberately" choosing the date when it was well-known that the opposition leader will have the floor in Parliament.
"I will go to Parliament after nominations and will bring up the issues related to Kajang in my debate," he had said at one of his ceramah in the mixed urban seat.
Anwar aides had also assured that their boss will make it in time to Parliament.
"Nominations start at 8am and will end by 10am latest, while the debate begins at 11.30am. There's enough time for Anwar to be in Parliament," PKR communications director Fahmi Fadzil had said.
Polling for the Kajang by-election is on March 23 after the sudden resignation of its previous assemblyman PKR's Lee Chin Cheh.
In Parliament, the Permatang Pauh MP is expected to touch on the raging racial religious issues and Pakatan Rakyat's olive branch to rival Barisan Nasional for a national consensus, despite the cool response from the ruling coalition.
However, as the content of the King's speech is so broad-based, MPs from both sides of the divide will take the opportunity to raise various issues and at the same time, take potshots at their opponents as the meeting will end on April 10.
Among the issues expected to be brought up in the month-long meeting are the rising cost of living, problems and delays associated with the construction of the low-cost terminal klia2, the water deal between Putrajaya and Selangor, and the controversial school-based assessment (PBS) system.
Expect fireworks during the tabling of the contentious motion on the boundary redelienation exercise as well as the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill, which the opposition had always maintained the country was not ready for.
Opposition MPs and civil society groups had opposed the redelienation process, claiming that it is vulnerable to gerrymandering and malapportionment, while the Election Commission had stressed the exercise is needed to balance out parliamentary areas to ensure they do not burden the MP.
The plan is to ensure a constituency has 100,000 voters or less, and currently, among the areas with more than 100,000 voters are Seremban, Kapar, Serdang, Puchong, Gelang Patah, Pasir Gudang, Selayang and Gombak.
The last redelineation exercise was in March 2003. The redelineation should have been done in 2011 but it was deferred because of the 13th general election last year.
As for the GST bill, Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah is expected to table it for readings and debate.
"Once tabled, it will be open for debate and it has to be passed into law this year as the GST is scheduled to be implemented in April 2015," deputy finance minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan was quoted as saying by English daily The New Straits Times recently.
Pakatan Rakyat MPs had fiercely opposed the Bill, to the extent of having nationwide roadshows to counter Putrajaya's media blitz to promote the GST, which will replace the current sales and services tax.
The GST Bill was tabled for the first reading in 2009 for implementation in late 2011, but was withdrawn during the second reading in 2010 following fierce public resistance.
In October last year, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced the implementation of the broad-based consumption tax pegged at 6% in his 2014 Budget speech.
This Parliament sitting will also keep MPs from Sarawak busy as they will have to face the upcoming Balingian by-election, which was triggered with the resignation of its incumbent, former chief minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud.
Taib had to give up the seat to accept the post of Yang di-Pertua Negeri, succeeding Tun Abang Muhammad Salahuddin Abang Barieng.
Sarawak DAP chief and Bandar Kuching MP Chong Chieng Jen said it would not affect Pakatan representatives' duties even if the by-election takes place during the parliamentary sitting. – March 9, 2014.
Source: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/
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