KUALA LUMPUR: Members of parliament should be provided with ministerial statements ahead of the five-day special Parliament sitting which begins on Monday.
Iskandar Puteri MP Lim Kit Siang said the ministerial statements, although embargoed from publication, would enable smooth and efficient parliamentary debate.
Apart from the ministerial statements, Lim also said there should also be a debate on the Emergency Proclamation and Ordinances where each should be ended with a vote.
"Ordinarily, a ministerial statement would not permit clarification nor would there be any debate.
"As MPs are to be allowed this time to seek clarification and to debate on each ministerial statement and as a different minister has been assigned to give a core ministerial statement each day, I suggest that the format of each parliamentary sitting would be a debate on the ministerial statement after it had been made by the relevant minister.
"This would allow MPs to seek clarification from the minister as well to state their views on the subject of the ministerial statement.
"The ministerial statement can then wind up the debate at the end of each sitting, responding to the clarifications sought and the views expressed by the MPs," he said in a statement today.
Lim said the speaker should also inform the Opposition leader on how many would be allowed to speak on each of the five days so that preparations could be made in advance.
He also said he hoped the MPs would be allowed to debate as promised by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Parliament and Law) Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan.
"He (Takiyuddin) said Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had written to the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara speakers requesting for the MPs to be allowed to debate and ask questions.
"We do not want double-talk or duplicity. Let Muhyiddin and Takiyuddin deliver on their promise that there would be a debate in the five-day special meeting of Parliament beginning Monday.
"As it is, the five-day special parliamentary meeting next Monday is most extraordinary, as I do not think there is any instance of any parliament in the world which has held a five-day special meeting which is solely confined to ministerial statements. I am prepared to be proven wrong either by Muhyiddin or Takiyuddin," said Lim.
Yesterday, Takiyuddin had said MPs will be allowed to debate and put forward questions during the sitting, adding that the speaker would determine matters such as the duration of debates allocated to each MP.
Takiyuddin had said there will be three agendas during the special sitting.
The first, he said, is in relation to the tabling of the proclamation of Emergency and the Emergency Ordinance that had been announced on Jan 11 this year.
The second agenda is the tabling of the Emergency proclamation in relation to the by-elections in the Gerik parliamentary constituency in Perak and Bugaya state constituency in Sabah.
The third agenda will be explanations given by ministers in relation to the Covid-19 situation and the emergency.