KUALA LUMPUR, May 19 — Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia suggested today that Putrajaya abolish the post of parliamentary affairs minister, saying this would help keep the powers of the legislative and the executive separate.

Pandikar added that this would not only show a distinct separation of powers between both arms of government, but would also reduce the negative perception that Parliament is merely a “rubber stamp”.

“I am disappointed with the perception of some people that think the Speaker works under the orders of the government as the executive body.

“This goes against the separation of powers doctrine, so the position of Minister in the Prime Minister’s department in charge of parliamentary affairs should be made no more (perlu ditiadakan),” he told reporters at a press conference today.

The current minister in charge of parliamentary affairs is Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim, who succeeded current Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz.

Pandikar added that during his time as Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, he took turns with others to handle parliamentary affairs.

“When I was a minister during Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s time, all the ministers took turns to look after parliamentary affairs. There is no such thing as a permanent minister in charge,” he added

Pandikar also revealed that he had made several suggestions to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to improve the quality of Parliament and make it “on par with international parliaments”.

“I have suggested so that a new chief parliament administrator should be elected so that we can work together with me as the Speaker.

“A special minister time question session should also be held so that MPs can ask specific questions to ministers,” he told reporters .

The Parliament Services Act 1963 which was abolished during Dr Mahathir’s era in 1992 should also be reintroduced and improved, Pandikar said.

He also wants the infrastructure of the Parliament to be refurbished to make it on par with the government offices in Putrajaya.

“The Parliament buildings and infrastructure should be upgraded to be equivalent to the government offices in Putrajaya, then only we can achieve a world class Parliament,” Pandikar added.

Pandikar held a press conference at his official residence in Bukit Tunku today to explain the allegations made by Dr Mahathir that he will quit as Speaker.

He clarified that he did have intentions to quit but was blocked by Najib. He also revealed the meeting he had with Mahathir was private and by revealing the contents, Mahathir had “shamed himself” and broke ethics.