KUALA LUMPUR: Delaying the Parliamentary Services Act (PSA) will hinder the parliament's ability to fulfil its role as defenders of the federal constitution, said a parliamentarian.
Ahead of the parliamentary session set on Feb 26, Subang member of parliament Wong Chen said the changes to the House rules is a step forward in a functioning democracy and ensuring its effectiveness in holding the government of the day accountable.
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To ensure the parliamentary select committee can effectively perform its duties, Wong stressed the need for an increased, independent budget to enable researchers to work without political influence.
He is calling for the enactment of PSA, which aims to create a dedicated civil service for Parliament, ensuring greater separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches, to be expedited.
In an interview on NST's Beyond the Headlines, he said: "The role of parliament is not to rubber stamp. The role of parliament is to function as legislators."
"Parliamentarians are supposed to be involved in the lawmaking process and committees are supposed to sit down as initial stakeholders to engage the government on what laws need to be done.
"You cannot do that if you don't have a budget for it or you don't have an active committee that is fully funded," added Wong.
In addition, he added that calls for the introduction of private members' to allow backbenchers and the opposition to table their own bills for debate should be taken seriously.
"Basically we are looking at (strengthening) the standing order of Parliament.
"We cannot give the sole discretion and power only to the government to table bills for true democracy to work."
The Parliamentary Services bill, aimed at granting autonomy to parliament in managing its affairs, may be tabled in its upcoming or next sitting, said Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul.
He said the draft to the bill was ready, but some matters needed to be ironed out before it could be tabled.
The Act was introduced in 1963, allowing parliament to act as an independent body and manage its own affairs including hiring, but was repealed in 1992.
Calls to revive the law had been aired for a few years among members of parliament as well as former Senate president Tan Sri Dr Rais Yatim. The cabinet too, had in principle agreed to the matter.
The parliament sitting this year will commence on Feb 26 for its first meeting which will run for 19 days between Feb 26 and March 27.
The second meeting will be from June 24 to July 18 (15 days), followed by the third meeting from Oct 7 to Dec 5, with a total of 35 days.
The 2025 Budget is slated to be tabled in October.