JULY 18 — The Second Meeting of the Fifth Term of the 15th Parliament was adjourned on Thursday (July 16) after sitting for 16 days since June 22. 

Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul, in his adjournment speech, said the meeting saw 13 Bills passed. 

Three Bills have been referred to a parliamentary special select committee (PSSC).

That’s three in 16 days.

What’s the big deal, you may ask.

Well, there have been only five Bills referred to a Select Committee in 60 years!

That’s what legal scholars Wan Arfah Hamzah and Ramly Bulan noted in their book An Introduction to the Malaysian Legal System (2003) at page 46:

“Most Bills are automatically referred to the Committee of the Whole House, i.e. at the end of the Second Reading the Dewan, without the necessity of a motion, resolves into a committee. Very rarely is a Bill referred to an ad hoc Select Committee (which has the power to obtain the views of the public). This occurs when the Dewan agrees to a motion to that effect, moved by any member after the Second Reading. Since Independence, only five Bills have been committed to Select Committees, among them the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Bill in 1974 and the Dangerous Drugs (Special Preventive Measures) (Amendment) Bill in 1984.”

When the Independent Police Complaints of Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) Bill 2019 was referred to the Select Committee, the Bill was perhaps only the sixth Parliamentary Bill to have been referred or committed to the Select Committee since independence. 

The great scholar, observer, popular teacher and good friend of Malaysia, the late Professor RH Hickling once called a Bill referred to a Select Committee as one that is singled out for a “distinguished treatment”.

In a public lecture in 1962 delivered on Merdeka Day of that year, he said:

“Only one of the many important measures put before the House of Representatives since its inception in 1959 has been referred to a Select Committee: and the observer might ask what momentous Bill was singled out for this distinguished treatment. This was in fact the Minor Offences (Amendment) Bill of 1961, almost two pages in length, and the point in issue was whether, on the assumption that it is the nature of dogs to bite postmen, compensation should be paid to persons injured by dog-bites, regardless of the doctrine of scienter.”

The great man, who crafted the abolished Internal Security Act (ISA), then went on:

“That slightly more important matters have not gone to Select Committees is due, I should say, not to any distrust of such procedure, but rather to an anxiety on the part of Government to stand by what is drafted and to continue the task of government with as little delay as possible.

“Nevertheless, failure to use the procedure of the Select Committee has occasionally meant that the full House of Representatives has proved a somewhat unwieldy committee to review details of a Bill.”

The government of the day, since 2018, has however been willing not to “stand by what is drafted and continue the task of government with as little delay as possible”. It has shown the willingness to listen, ensuring bipartisan support for Bills which are, in the words of former Minister of Health, Khairy Jamaluddin “too important [for them] to not receive broad bipartisan support from everyone”. 

In 2022, Khairy committed the Control of Tobacco Product and Smoking Bill 2022 – the Generational End Game (GEG) Bill – to the PSSC.

Three years earlier in 2019, Minister in the Prime Minister Department Liew Vui Keong committed the IPCMC Bill to the PSSC.

This year, Liew’s successor in the office Azalina Othman Said alone has committed three Bills to the PSSC. The Bills are the Constitution (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2026, the Admiralty Jurisdiction Bill 2026 and the Freedom of Information Bill 2026.

The other who has committed a Bill to the PSSC is Deputy Home Minister Dr. Shamsul Anuar bin Haji Nasarah, the Bill being the Prison (Amendment) Bill 2026.

Who are they?

I say the progressives in government.

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