90 new MPs at July 16 sitting – a Dewan Rakyat record

KUALA LUMPUR: The first meeting of the first session of the 14th Parliament on July 16 will witness the appearance of 90 new MPs.

Dewan Rakyat secretary Datuk Rosmee Hamzah said the number was the largest ever recorded in the history of the Malaysian Parliament.

“It will be a historic day. The parliamentary landscape this time around is very different because we will see very elderly as well as young parliamentarians such as P Prabakaran ( Batu MP) who is still a student,” she said when met by reporters after a briefing on the 14th Parliament at the Dewan Rakyat, here yesterday.

As such, she said yesterday’s briefing was very important especially for the newly appointed members to understand the rules of the House of Representatives such as on the oral question-answer sessions and tabling of a bill.

In the meantime, she said the 14th Parliament sitting scheduled for 20 days would also see the appearance of 11 former MPs and 121 MPs from the 13th Parliament who were re- elected in the last 14th general election.

Rosmee added that at the briefing yesterday, the MPs were also briefed on the preparations for the first meeting on July 16, which would see the appointment of the new Dewan Rakyat speaker followed by a swearing-in ceremony of 222 parliamentarians.

Meanwhile, when pressed on the candidate for the Dewan Rakyat Speaker, Rosmee said so far she had not received a motion from the government and the proposal for the nomination must be submitted within 14 days before the Parliament sitting or latest by next Monday.

She said the seating arrangement for the MPs in the House would also be determined after the appointment of all cabinet ministers and deputy ministers scheduled to be announced next Monday.

“Thereafter we will be able to allocate the seats with the government supporters on the right and the opposition representatives on the left,” she said.

She added that the parliamentary members should submit questions for the oral question- answer sessions by June 29. — Bernama