PARLIAMENT | Dewan Rakyat deputy speaker Nga Kor Ming said there will no longer be a minister in charge of parliamentary affairs once the revamped Parliamentary Services Act is reinstated.

"Both sides including the opposition [...] have also agreed to elevate the status of the Parliamentary Services Act to the Parliamentary Services Commission Act.

"Once we have this act, Parliament will have its own finance, there will be no minister in charge of parliamentary affairs.

"The speaker will be the head of the House, there will be a House commission chaired by the speaker," Nga said to reporters at Parliament today.

With the act, Parliament will also no longer be parked under the Prime Minister's Department (PMD), he said.

"In terms of financial autonomy and independence, it will no longer be subservient to the PMD," he added.

Currently, parliamentary affairs are placed under the PMD and the minister-in-charge is VK Liew.

Nga also said the Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) has been asked to come up with a draft of the Parliamentary Services Bill.

"We hope to table the new act at the next sitting to make Parliament a totally independent body and to restore the autonomy of the legislature in line with the doctrine of separation of powers," he said.

Permanent staff

He also added that as Parliament will have its own budget, all remuneration of MPs and other related expenses will be paid by Parliament.

This will also help Parliament form more special select committees, he said, as there was currently a lack of space and staff to implement all the reforms intended.

"For example, at this moment, only the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has its own staff.

"Each committee special select will need about 10 permanent staff to function well," he said.