LETTER | If the UK Parliament can do it in half-a-day, so can the Malaysian Parliament

LETTER | On Jan 16, 2019, the then UK prime minister Theresa May faced a motion of no confidence in the House of Commons. The below information is from the House of Commons Hansard.

"On the 16th January 2019, the House of Commons met at 11.30 a.m. It was followed by prayers and the Speaker's Statement. Then came the prior written questions from the floor which were 15 in total. Answers were given.

Thereafter, it was time for the Prime Minister's Questions. After the PMQs, certain points of order were raised and a motion for leave to amend a bill was heard.

Then it was time for Business of the House for the day.

It was ordered by the House:

"Ordered, at this day’s sitting the Speaker shall put the Question necessary to dispose of proceedings on the Motion tabled under section 2(4) of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 in the name of Jeremy Corbyn not later than 7.00pm [...]"

At 1.08pm, Jeremy Corbyn began presenting his motion for no confidence in Theresa May as prime minister by saying:-

"I beg to move, that this House has no confidence in Her Majesty’s Government."

At 7.00pm, the House of Commons voted, and Jeremy Corbyn's motion ultimately got defeated. At 7.25pm, the business of the day resumed in the House of Commons.

In Malaysia, the Parliamentary Business of the 1st meeting of the 3rd Session of the Fourteenth Parliament 2020, which is fixed on May 18, is firstly the royal address during the opening ceremony of Parliament, and secondly, bills and other government business.

From what we can see being the practice of the Westminster system, which Malaysia practices, a motion of no-confidence, just like Jeremy Corbyn's motion of no-confidence, was heard, debated and disposed off first before the government's business was proceeded with.

That brings us to the second part.

The members of Parliament in the UK took just about six hours to dispose off the motion of no-confidence. From 1.08pm till 7.00p.m.

Malaysia's Dewan Rakyat sitting time is from 10.00am till 1.00pm for the morning session, and from 2.30pm till 5.30pm for the afternoon session.

On May 18, the Royal Address by the king is at 10.00am.

It is humbly submitted that the learned Dewan Dewan Rakyat speaker should fix a time on May 18 before which he should put the question to the Dewan Rakyat as per the motion of no-confidence and call for a vote.

As for time to debate, even with all the preliminaries after the royal address, do MPs need more than four hours to debate a motion of no-confidence on a prime minister that has been holding that position for two months and 16 days?

The reason for this question is simply because the crux of the debate would be to oppose the motion, in other words , on why the current PM should remain. Logically and naturally, the current prime minister's records would be unfolded. Unfortunately, not much can be put forth or argued in favour of a prime minister who has been in office for just over two months.

In the circumstances, it is humbly submitted, that by convention, the motion of no-confidence should be disposed off before the government business is proceeded with, and that if the UK Parliament can do it in six hours for a prime minister who was in office for two years and six months, then surely the Malaysian Parliament can do it in four hours for a prime minister who has been in office for two months and 16 days.

Well, one might ask is the above against Standing order 33(1)?

"33. (1) When a motion has been moved and if necessary seconded, the Chair shall propose the question thereon to the House or the Committee in the same terms as the motion; debate may then take place upon that question and may, subject to the provisions of these Standing Orders, continue so long as any member wishes to speak who is entitled to do so."

It is humbly submitted that the learned speaker of the Dewan Rakyat has the final say because the rules against tedious repetition apply in the Dewan Rakyat.

Standing Order 44(1) states:

"44. (1) The Chair, after having called the attention of the House, or of the Committee, to the conduct of a member who persists in irrelevance, or in tedious repetition either of his own arguments or of the arguments used by other members in debate, may direct him to discontinue his speech."

Ultimately, the learned speaker decides and it is final.

Standing Order 43 states:-

"43. Tuan Yang di-Pertua in the House or the Chairman in Committee shall be responsible for the observance of the rules of order in the House and Committee respectively, and his decision on any point of order shall not be open to appeal and shall not be reviewed by the house except upon a substantive motion moved for that purpose. Such a motion shall not require more than two days’ notice."

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.