Hectic week ahead for lawmakers with four days left

It is set to be a hectic week for lawmakers who have just four days to settle matters before the Dewan Rakyat wraps up its current meeting. There are several crucial Bills that are likely to see heated debates.

The last lap of the Dewan Rakyat will also mark the end of the “no-confidence motion” saga against Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, which began in early May.

Top on the government’s agenda is passing the Temporary Measures For Government Financing (Coronavirus Disease 2019 [Covid19] Bill 2020 and Temporary Measures for Reducing the Impact of Coronavirus Disease 2019 [Covid19]) Bill 2020.

The Bills are important as they allow for the setting up of a RM45bil Covid-19 Fund while increasing the country’s statutory accumulated debt limit from the current 55% of GDP to 60%.

It will also allow for the suspension of contractual obligations in several economic sectors to avoid further impact on the battered national economy due to the pandemic.

It will be not be surprising if Opposition MPs attempt to defeat the Temporary Measures For Government Financing (Coronavirus Disease 2019 [Covid19] Bill 2020 as it is considered to be a budget Bill, aimed at creating the RM45bil Covid-19 Fund for the government.

By convention, a defeat of a budget Bill would result in the collapse of a ruling government as it would mean a lack of majority support in the House.

There were already two attempts by the Opposition to out-vote Perikatan Nasional in the House.

The first was on the opening day of the Parliament meeting on July 13 over a motion to remove then Speaker Tan Sri Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof, while the other occurred last Monday on the Supply (Reallocation of Appropriated Expenditure) Bill 2020, which was a budget Bill for RM7.18bil.

Both attempts failed after Perikatan garnered sufficient votes, albeit by razor-thin and narrow margins.

Perikatan secured 111 votes on both occasions against the Opposition’s 109 and 106.

Apart from this, there is Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s motion of no-confidence against Muhyiddin which is currently sitting at the bottom of the list on Parliament’s Order Paper.

The motion against Muhyiddin was accepted by Mohamad Ariff on May 7 and included in the Order Paper.

At that time, there was much talk of the Opposition having enough support to oust Muhyiddin but this never materialised.

Also, Mohamad Ariff was replaced by Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun on July 13.

Political analyst Prof Sivamurugan Pandian of Universiti Sains Malaysia said a lot had changed within the Opposition since Dr Mahathir’s motion was accepted by Mohamad Ariff in May.

“Dr Mahathir is no longer part of the coalition and it will not be an easy task to convince everyone to support it even if it gets through.

“Also, lately talk of the motion has gone silent and maybe they (Opposition) are not interested any more with speculation of a snap election,” he said when contacted.

Sivamurugan pointed out that priority was given to government Bills over a private motion tabled by an MP.

“With such time constraints, I don’t think the motion will see the light of day,” he said.

International Islamic University Malaysia legal adviser Prof Dr Nik Ahmad Kamal Nik Mahmod also felt that Dr Mahathir’s motion would likely not come up for vote.

“Priority is for government matters. As such, the Bills on Covid-19 and other government agenda must come first,” he said.

He said the motion of no-confidence, if not brought up for vote in the current Dewan Rakyat meeting, would lapse.

“The present motion will lapse and a new one has to be submitted again for the next Dewan Rakyat meeting,” he said.

Rather than focus on Dr Mahathir’s motion, Nik Ahmad said MPs should turn their attention on how to deal with the uncertainties brought about by the global Covid-19 pandemic.

Apart from the Covid-19 Bills, the government is looking at passing the Road Transport Act (Amendment) Bill 2020 to increase penalties for drink-driving.

The government also intends to withdraw the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCMC) Bill which was originally slated for first reading this coming Wednesday, and replace it with a “slightly” amended version.

Whatever the case, it promises to be an interesting end to the current Dewan Rakyat meeting.