KUALA LUMPUR: Dewan Rakyat Deputy Speaker Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said has listed out seven Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for the government to adopt.
She said despite the current Movement Control Order 3.0 (MCO3.0), state of emergency and surge in Covid-19 cases, reconvening parliamentary sitting was the key to manage public mistrust during the current pandemic.
Among others, she proposed for parliamentary staffers to be vaccinated including all Members of Parliament and Senators.
"I was informed that as of now, Parliament staffers are not considered as frontliners. I don't agree with this. As guardians of both the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara, they are frontliners in my opinion," she said in a statement today.
To avoid time being wasted on "unwarranted drama" by MPs who might be calling for a motion of no confidence against Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Azalina proposed for the government to promulgate an ordinance to stop the motion from being heard temporarily.
She also proposed for a unity cabinet to be formed during the pandemic to better serve the public.
"Until and unless the pandemic is controlled and herd immunity of at least 50 per cent is achieved, no general election should be held.
"Instead, an Interim Emergency Government with an emergency cabinet should be formed, with representation from all political parties."
In her third suggestion for a new parliamentary SOP, Azalina urged the government to invest in preparing Virtual Parliament and speech-to-text systems as these would significantly facilitate efficient parliamentary proceedings.
"It's not costly. Even Zoom provides polling options to facilitate voting processes. And I'd be happy to use the mute function to stop errant parliamentarians who talk too much."
At the same time, she said quorum requirements for in-person parliamentary proceedings should be enforced, adding that both the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara were large enough to ensure physical distancing.
"Don't worry about Standing Orders and constitutional parliamentary procedures since we are in a darurat (state of emergency).
"In Australia, the House of Representatives resolved to meet in a manner not provided under the Standing Orders in response to the pandemic, and so did the Parliaments of Indonesia and France.
"Hendak seribu daya, tak hendak seribu dalih (where there's a will, there's a way)."
To promote checks and balances as well as executive accountability, Azalina said the parliamentary Special Select Committee (SSC) should be used as an alternative tool to establish a transparent inquisitorial process.
She said such hearings should be made accessible to the public and in real-time so that people could participate in the process.
"Let's learn from the experiences of other countries that are making significant headways in investigating and inquiring into how the pandemic has affected the public in general, particularly those from vulnerable groups such as women, people with disabilities, and children."
To ensure fair allocation of constituency funds, Azalina proposed for the government to allocate "Constituency Covid-19 Funds" as a bipartisan tool to reset, restart and realign different political parties towards a common goal in mitigating the Covid-19 pandemic.
"Please also consider granting all MPs special travel privileges to visit constituencies - for work purposes only."
To bridge the political ideology gap in the parliament, Azalina who is also Pengerang MP said the government should allow lawmakers to "cross the floor" by collaborating and letting them raise concerns.
She added all MPs should be armed with the necessary health information and data on Covid-19 to resolve the "trust deficit" between the public and administrators.
In February, Azalina had, in a letter, urged for the parliament to reconvene.