DECEMBER 12 — The great buzz over the weekend surrounding Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Hajiji Noor’s announcement of a mass exodus of lawmakers at both state and federal level from Bersatu, has spurred speculations on whether or not another election would be called.
This even before the dust has settled down from the 15th General Election (GE15) on November 19.
While law experts Malay Mail spoke to have offered their learned views, allow me to say that the matter underscores the need for the first institutional reform – that is, the election of the Dewan Rakyat Speaker.
The elected Speaker must be a person of “integrity, who is fiercely independent and who knows the procedure of the Parliament like the back of his hands”.
As explained by former de facto law minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, when the Dewan Rakyat sits on December 19, there may be one member of the House (MP) who writes a letter to the Speaker and says, ‘so and so has already left Bersatu’.
If that happens, the Speaker has 21 days to establish whether the MP or MPs has/have already left the party or not. The Speaker has a constitutional duty to establish the matter within 21 days.
Wan Junaidi explained the 21-day requirement was taken from a lesson learnt from India where a certain Speaker had placed a complaint letter into a desk drawer and forgot to mention it to anybody.
“So people didn’t know about it, the members were still sitting down there even though there was a letter of complaint.
“So that’s why our Constitution was done in such a way that we gave constitutional responsibilities to the Speaker.
“If the Speaker does not do that, the Speaker ought to be removed for failing to protect the Constitution,” he said.
Will the newly elected Speaker stand up to his or her constitutional duties?
The first institutional reform is, without a doubt, the election of a fiercely independent Dewan Rakyat Speaker.
*This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
