Parliament to dissolve Friday
KUALA LUMPUR: Talk that Parliament will be dissolved on Friday is rife following several notable developments that have caught the people’s attention.
It is understood that a number of Barisan Nasional state leaders have been called for urgent consultations in Putrajaya, the seat of the federal administration, ahead of the muchanticipated 14th General Election (GE14).
A federal minister, Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan, who is also the Barisan Nasional Strategic Communications director, had predicted that Parliament would be dissolved before Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak launches the coalition’s manifesto.
Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz also predicted Parliament will most likely be dissolved on Friday.
He based this on Barisan Nasional (BN) scheduling the launch of its election manifesto for Saturday and the postponement of the weekly Cabinet meeting from Wednesday to Friday.
The manifesto launch scheduled for Saturday night here leaves yesterday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday as the possible dates for the dissolution of Parliament.
The Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara are scheduled to adjourn on Thursday after having debated and passed important motions and bills in their final sessions before the dissolution of Parliament.
A motion on the review of electoral boundaries was passed by the Dewan Rakyat last Wednesday with 129 ‘Aye’ and 80 ‘Nay’ and gazetted the next day, thus allowing GE14 to be conducted with the latest electoral boundaries with no changes in the number of parliamentary and state seats.
On Monday, the Anti-Fake News Bill was passed by the Dewan Rakyat, and the Dewan Negara gave its nod to the enactment of the law yesterday.
Once gazetted, the act would address, among others, the scourge of fake news that poses a risk to democracy, security, the economy, stability and harmony in the country.
Another important piece of legislation passed by both houses was the Supplementary Supply Bill (2017) 2018, totalling RM7.12 billion.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has so far remained coy on the date of dissolution of Parliament, only hinting that it would happen soon.
Najib attended events in Johor yesterday and is scheduled to be in Putrajaya Wednesday morning before travelling to Sarawak until Thursday.
The Press diary indicates that Najib has no public engagement on Friday except for the Cabinet meeting that observers say would likely be the last before Parliament is dissolved.
It is customary for the Prime Minister to have an audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong before the weekly Cabinet meeting with no media presence.
But this coming Friday, it will be different as hordes of media personnel will likely glue themselves to the palace gates expecting that ‘business will not be as usual’.
Political pundits are predicting that GE14 will likely take place at the end of this month or early next month, before the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan in the middle of May.