NOVEMBER 2 — I remember going to school almost every day because my mum would give a lecture on how school attendance matter regardless of whether you learn anything or not.

When I was in Form 6, I even received a certificate at the end of the day for having a 99.9 per cent attendance in class which was indeed a big deal because my new school appreciated the attendance of the students especially those who actually make an effort to come every day without a single absent record.

These were one of the traits we learnt at home and at school while growing up.

Well things began to change a little at university where I would sometime skip a few classes due to societal and student council commitments but that didn’t mean that I never attended classes at all.

I definitely made it an effort to attend classes regardless of my commitments as some lectures make it a point to make attendance as part of our assessments and it contributes to our final results.

The sense of fear of not getting these extra score or marks from the attendance is constantly there among us students.

Why I am saying all this?

This is because a few of our Member of Parliaments (MPs) recently said that attendance in parliament is not a big issue.

Well as a Malaysian citizen myself, I personally feel that the presence of my MP in parliament is very important as I would like to see him or her debate about issues as well as address problems within the constituency at the parliament.

It is a responsibility of each MP to represent the voice of the voters in parliament as it is the national legislative body of the Malaysians government.

In addition to that, parliament is not only a place for debates and also a place where an MP becomes a populist but it is beyond that as the parliament is an institution where laws are passed, amended and repealed.

Besides that, parliament is also an institution that examines government policies, approves the governments expenditure and approves taxes.

Such is the importance of parliament and here we have some of our MPs who were being absolutely ignorant about their role as parliamentarians.

I believe that every single person has been taught about the importance of attendance from our schooling days right up to university and as we become adults’ attendance at work is also important. Imagine employees telling their employers that their attendance at work doesn’t matter at all and they would like to show up to work whenever they want.

There will definitely be chaos.

I understand that some MPs have their own different commitments either as a minister or deputy minister and some might even have commitments at their constituency but that does not mean that they could neglect their representation or responsibility of attending in parliament sessions regularly.

The practice of the previous government who may have not looked at attendance in parliament as a priority should be changed in this new era of Malaysia Baru and the current MPs from the government coalition shouldn’t repeat the mistakes of the past.

The MPs should be reminded that the people are indeed watching their every move and some are even watch the parliament session every day just to make sure that their MPs are representing their voices.

The MPs should definitely be a good example to the younger ones especially those who are at school.

Imagine a situation where school students would one day turn around and actually say that their school attendance is no longer a priority because even our MPs are not prioritising their attendance in parliament so why should they even bother.

Remember that the political culture in Malaysia has changed since the historic election in May this year as the political awareness among citizens especially young people has definitely increased significantly.

This complacency of attendance in parliament could be resolved via a new law that should be implemented stating the maximum number of days that an MP should be present while parliament is in session, present a show cause letter if they are absent and pay a hefty fine if they are unable to justify their reason for being absent.

This law would need teach our MPs a viable lesson and make them aware of their role as an MP.

This would also remind them that the people voted them for a reason and they should be accountable to their voters by being a responsible MP.

The people are continuously watching your every move.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.