MPs reminded to keep politicking out of Parliament

Dewan Rakyat speaker Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof has reminded lawmakers from both sides of the divide to keep 'ceramah politic' outside the august House and embrace moderation in their debates.

"In many ways, the Dewan (Rakyat) offers an insight into the political change at work, and questions and debates (in the House) perhaps mirror the political developments, issues and lines of differing political positions in society.

"I would venture to suggest that with the increasing influence of electronic mainstream and social media, these debates and questions and answers will reflect and simultaneously affect the general debates in society," Ariff said when officiating a forum on GE14 at International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) today.

"When political society becomes inclined to divisiveness, Parliament will have to act as a corrective mechanism to steer the debates towards moderation and intellect," he said.

The parliamentarians should ascertain truth through facts and evidence, instead of polluting the truth with emotion, and worse still, by name-calling and uncouth behaviour, he said.

Ariff hoped parliamentary reforms may influence and reduce the level of divisive politics outside the House, via the bipartisan select committees that were set up to oversee relevant ministries.

"These committees have very wide terms of reference. They can oversee policies, finances of the particular ministry and may in proper cases conduct inquiries into issues, even on their own initiative.

"All of them have the power to summon persons, records and documents," he said.

"We have obviously embraced the reform agenda expressed in Promise 16 of the Harapan manifesto, which seeks to reinstate the dignity of the House," he added.

Harapan pledged in its manifesto to reintroduce the Parliamentary Services Act, which was repealed in 1992. The coalition also pledged to empower the Dewan Negara so the upper house can play a proper role to serve as a check and balance to the Dewan Rakyat.

According to Ariff, the Malaysian Parliament should look further afield towards the international benchmarks suggested by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), which provide a set of guidelines for good governance by the legislature.

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