KUALA LUMPUR: Putrajaya has been urged to use online platforms to conduct a full parliamentary sitting during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Analysts said that while the government's act of organising a one-day parliamentary sitting was reasonable considering the current situation, it should consider the online proposal as practiced in some countries.
Universiti Malaya political analysts Dr Awang Azman Awang Pawi said given that the government had urged the people to become more tech-savvy during the Covid-19 crisis, it was only right that it did the same.
He was referring to the government's move to encourage Malaysians to do online transactions when making purchases and to download applications to trace Covid-19 infections, such as the MyTrace and MySejahtera apps.
"We are in 2020, not the 1990s. There are many online platforms that can be used to conduct a full parliamentary sitting."
Recently, Kota Kinabalu member of parliament Chan Foong Hin called for a video-conferencing sitting, saying it was unfair for Sabah and Sarawak MPs to fly to the peninsula just for a one-day sitting.
Several countries have started conducting parliamentary sitting via virtual platforms, such as the United Kingdom, Mongolia, Indonesia, Denmark, the Maldives and Brazil.
In the UK, the House of Commons has applied a hybrid parliamentary model, which allows a maximum number of 50 lawmakers to be at the debating chamber, while another 120 are permitted to join in via Zoom video conference.
This model allows questions and statements to be delivered in-person and via video conferencing platforms.
The questions and statements are organised by the speaker and government two days in advance.
The new arrangement is limited to questioning ministers, although officials are looking at ways that legislation can be discussed and even voted upon digitally.
In Mongolia, Parliament held the opening of its spring session on April 6 using electronic technology for the first time, where its MPs attended the session in five chambers, seated at pre-assigned desks at a distance of at least 1.5m and using an intramural TV conferencing system.
The speaker approved an ordinance to temporarily allow media representatives to work at the Parliament building, with areas set up for journalists.
Brazil passed a resolution that enables its Parliament to work remotely during a public health emergency using video-conferencing and virtual management tools. The system allows MPs to register for a session and shows all phases of the legislative processes, including the bill under discussion, amendments, the results of each voting round, speeches and committee agendas.
The Chamber of Deputies (513 members) and the Senate (81 members) are holding remote sessions broadcast live to the public through Parliament's media and digital platforms.
Universiti Sains Malaysia political pundit Dr Sivamurugan Pandian said the government did have alternatives although, and that at the end of the day, the government had the power to make its own decision.
"Maybe the government feels that since we are in a crisis, only urgent matters should be given priority.
"The opposition, on the other hand, may feel that it wants to provide recommendations to the government, hence the reason it called for an online sitting.
"Whatever it is, the government has alternatives. Video-conferencing is a good example, but this will happen only if the government wants to do it."
Last week, the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih 2.0) listed out a number of online platforms for the government to use to conduct a parliamentary sitting.
"Bersih 2.0 calls on the government under Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to uphold the primacy of Parliament by holding a more substantive parliamentary session to debate urgent measures to handle the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
"This session could use online video-conferencing tools, such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Cisco Web Meetings and Google Meet, to ensure that MPs can participate remotely and safely from their homes, or even from another part of Parliament."
Special Functions Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof told the New Straits Times that the reason for the one-day sitting was because a notice had been issued in advance to MPs in regard to the date of the sitting (May 18).
"I don't think we are ready for an online sitting yet, but we can test it and make it work (in the future).
"This decision depends on the prime minister and the Dewan Rakyat speaker (Tan Sri Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof)."