KUALA LUMPUR, March 3 — Umno secretary-general Tan Sri Annuar Musa today said that it is reasonable for the Perikatan Nasional administration to delay the upcoming parliament sitting as it needs to iron our administrative issues first.
In a series of tweets today, the Ketereh MP pointed out that the new administration needed time to sort out numerous outstanding issues such as looking into the appointment of Cabinet of ministers and the new speaker of the Dewan Rakyat among other things.
Annuar was responding to a statement by current Dewan Rakyat speaker Tan Sri Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof who said the Dewan Rakyat sitting would not be postponed due to Covid-19 fears after it was reported that a former minister and deputy minister came into contact with a Covid-19 patient.
“It is reasonable for the delay but not because of Covid 19. When PH formed the government, Parliament only convened more than two months after. A lot of matters need to be resolved by the [new] government before Parliament can convene.
“It involves the formation of the Cabinet, the candidacy of the speaker, MP’s questions and the government’s answers, etc.
“I see it is impossible for the dates that have been set by the previous government to continue. Whatever it is, the PM needs to give a new notice to the speaker. The new government needs at least two months before it can convene. It is not impossible for us to convene during puasa or after Hari Raya,” said Annuar, referring to parliament convening after Hari Raya Aidilfitri that falls on May 23.
The Parliament was set originally convene this coming March 9 however a source familiar with the matter told Malay Mail that the scheduled meeting will likely be postponed to make way for several matters, including the appointment of a new Cabinet to handle question time.
The source also said that the next planned date for the meeting had initially been set for March 23, but this was rejected by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who was just sworn in on Sunday.
This will likely put a damper on PH’s plan to call for a no-confidence vote against Muhyiddin, after claiming that the Pagoh MP had misled the Agong over his supposed command of the majority in Dewan Rakyat.
