In what has been described as a 'historic scene', almost all parliamentarians present in the Dewan Rakyat today, including many from the government, staged a rare show of unity in urging the government to revive the Parliamentary Services Act 1963 (PSA) to enable the House to function better.

The dramatic event, led by Backbenchers Club president Shahrir Samad (BN-Johor Baru), comes in wake of unhappiness among MPs over an attempt to set up a new ' Parliament Department ' which was later watered down to a single administrative post.

The scene kicked off with Ahmad Shabery Cheek (BN-Kemaman) asking during this morning's question-and-answer session whether the government intended to amend the law to clearly define the independence of Parliament.

In his supplementary question, he said Japanese and Americans were willing to work in their parliaments or congresses because they were proud of their legislative system besides the excellent facilities they enjoyed there such as the world-class library at the US Congress.

However, in Malaysia, he said, since the repeal of the PSA in 1992, Parliament has lost its power to decide on the recruitment of staff, their wages and other administrative matters. He claimed "various reasons were given then to abolish the PSA".

"Thirteen years after the Act was repealed, besides changes to the Parliament's walls, floors, and chairs and a minister (overseeing parliamentary affairs), are there any big changes that we have seen?" Ahmad Shabery asked.

Advertising 'nothing'

"We don't have a library that we can be proud of; we don't even have a Parliament shop. For Acts which are passed in the Parliament itself we can't find the relevant books here [..] we have to buy them at bookstores outside.

"We have an information centre but it only teaches the public on how to wear a tie and the 'baju melayu.' We don't have an auditorium; we were promised researchers but that hasn't materialised so far.

"I am worried if this continues, the government will be accused of 'advertising without a product'," the Kemaman MP thundered.

He asked when the PSA would be revived, saying he would support a move for it to be reinstated. (The PSA outlines responsibilities in managing the administrative issues of Parliament and allows the institution to administer and manage its own affairs).

Taking up the gauntlet, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz replied that the Executive had never interfered in the repeal of the PSA in 1992 and that it was the request of then speaker, the late Dr Mohamed Zahir Ismail.

"If the Speaker wants to repeal an act, we as the Executive can only facilitate the speaker's request (by tabling a motion)," he said, adding that the reviving the Act was up to the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara through the House Committee.

Shahrir leads charge

At this juncture, Shahrir was given the floor to ask a second supplementary question. Anticipation in the chambers ran high and true to form, the veteran politician deftly parried Nazri's reply.

"If today all MPs here want the Act to be revived, could the honourable minister tell the Executive ' jangan nak panjang-panjangkan cerita ' (not to dilly-dally on the matter) and act now [...] there is no need to pass it to the House Committee to decide," he said.

"I appeal to my fellow MPs here to stand up now, to show that we support for the Act to be revived," Shahrir said and almost immediately and to their own surprise, almost all government backbenchers and opposition MPs stood up.

For the government, Minister of International Trade and Industry Deputy Minister Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah was the first to stand up followed by the others including Deputy Tourism Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Among those that remained seated were Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, Deputy Internal Security Minister Chia Kwang Chye, Deputy Home Minister Tan Chai Ho and Nazri himself. About 50 MPs were present in the House.

Nazri remaining seated sparked off a furore with opposition MPs loudly expressing their dissatisfaction to the extent that Speaker Ramli Ngah Talib had to ask for order in the House.

Stung, Nazri stood up to say that he could only bring the proposal to reinstate the Act to the government if there was a formal request by the House Committee. He asked the MPs to not have 'double standards'.

"We do not want to see that 20 years later, some new MP rises and says the Act is not valid because the procedure was not complied with [...] don't pass the responsibility to me, the House Committee must make a decision and I will propose it to the government," he said.

Not 'proper forum'

M Kula Segaran (DAP-Ipoh Barat) then asked the Speaker, who is also the chair of the House Committee, to call for a meeting on the revival of the PSA at the earliest opportunity. Ramli, however, merely replied that he will take note of the request.

At a press conference later, Nazri said despite all the MPs indicating that they wanted the PSA to be reinstated, it was not 'a proper forum' and he could only take their show of unity as a 'proof of support'.

"We can't be seen to be doing things in an ad-hoc manner," he told reporters.

In a another development, Parliament's new head of administration Kamaruddin Mohd Baria visited the House this morning and met with the Dewan Rakyat Speaker. He was accompanied by Nazri but refused to comment when approached.

Nazri earlier had blamed the media for misconstruing his statement regarding the setting up of a new Parliament Department saying that no such thing had ever been planned.