Parliament's Covid-19 prevention to allow only 80 MPs in one sitting
PARLIAMENT | As part of enhanced Covid-19 prevention measures, the Dewan Rakyat session from tomorrow's tabling of Budget 2021 will see only 80 MPs out of 222 being allowed in the hall.
The 80 MPs comprise 41 from the government and 39 from the opposition and independent bench, according to Dewan Rakyat Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun...
PARLIAMENT | As part of enhanced Covid-19 prevention measures, the Dewan Rakyat session from tomorrow's tabling of Budget 2021 will see only 80 MPs out of 222 allowed in the hall.
The 80 MPs comprise 41 from the government and 39 from the opposition and independent bench, according to Dewan Rakyat Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun.
The selection of MPs will be determined by each party and those attending will be issued with a special card to record their attendance.
However, all 222 MPs will be allowed to be in the hall when a bloc voting is called.
They will be summoned via two bells, the first for two minutes, followed by a 10-minute wait and a second two-minute bell before the voting commences.
Azhar's statement was read out by Dewan Rakyat Deputy Speaker Mohd Rashid Hasnon at the start of the sitting this morning.
The nine measures, including reduced attendance and shorter proceedings from 10am to 2pm, were agreed to by all 10 party whips at a Covid-19 preventing coordination meeting yesterday, Azhar said.
Due to the reduced sitting hours, daily proceedings including Question Time, Minister's Question Time and debates of Bills have also been cut short.
Among others, it was announced that the Minister's Question Time will only take place twice a week for five minutes with answers provided in written form on the same day and uploaded on Parliament's website.
The daily Question Time will only see one supplementary question allowed for each answer provided.
Meanwhile, the Supplementary Supply Bill 2021 will be debated for eight days, followed by the minister's winding up at the policy stage for three days from Nov 23 to 25.
The last 11 days of the sitting have been allocated for debates at the committee stage and Azhar said the session could be extended for two more days on Dec 16 and 17 if needed.
The start of the 14th Parliament's third meeting of the third session on Monday has seen the House limiting its sitting to end at 1pm.
This came after the discovery of seven positive Covid-19 cases linked to a Parliament staff member, following a mandatory screening conducted last week.
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