PARLIAMENT The Dewan Rakyat stopped the clock last night for the fourth time this year in a bid to conclude the passage of the 11th Malaysia Plan by the House.

The motion was moved by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Shahidan Kassim just minutes before midnight and was quickly endorsed.

At that time, another Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Abdul Wahid Omar was making his winding-up speech and responding to queries from the MPs.

This was followed by winding-up speeches by minister Wee Ka Siong ( photo ) and deputy minister Razali Ibrahim, both of whom are also from the Prime Minister’s Department.

The Prime Minister’s Department was the last ministry to respond to issues raised by MPs throughout the debates on the 11MP, which was eventually passed at 12.51am.

These were then followed with adjournment speeches by Tony Pua (DAP-Petaling Jaya Utara) and Stephen Wong (DAP-Sandakan).

The 11MP was tabled by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak on May 21, and the next six days of the parliamentary sessions were spent debating it.

After that, from June 10 onwards, ministers had three days to respond to issues raised on the plan that concerned their respective ministries. Yesterday was the final day.

A Commonwealth legislative practice

The Dewan Rakyat will spend the rest of the week, from today, debating bills tabled by the government, starting with the resumption of the second reading on the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of Migrants (Amendment) Bill 2015.

Stopping the clock is the practice of some Commonwealth legislatures to enable them to conduct business past midnight.

In Malaysia, this is done by invoking Standing Order 90 to suspend Standing Order 12, which stipulates the time for each Parliament sitting.

Previously, the motion was used and passed three times in a single week in April, which among others saw the passage of controversial bills such as the Prevention of Terrorism Bill 2015 and the Sedition Act (Amendment) Bill 2015.

This angered some lawmakers on both sides of the political divide, who said they could not work into the wee hours and still be expected to be effective, especially since there was no urgency in some of the bills that were rushed through Parliament.