Ruckus in parliament over lack of quorum

PARLIAMENT | The winding-up debate to pass the Supply Bill 2020 for the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry turned chaotic tonight when there were insufficient MPs in the House to fill the required quorum.

This happened when deputy minister Hannah Yeoh ended her winding-up speech at committee-level for the ministry at about 9pm.

In the process of counting the votes in favour or against the bill, lawmakers from both the government and opposition camps got up to argue and question the attendance in the respective blocks.

The bell was rung to get members of parliament to enter the House before Speaker Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof announced that Yeoh's motion received overwhelming support with 45 in favour and 28 against.

Earlier, in winding up Yeoh said 22 cases of child abuse were reported at childcare centres from 2017 to 2019.

"A total of 226 enforcement actions have been taken against registered and unregistered centres which were not in compliance with the Child Care Centres Act 1984 and Child Care Centres Regulations 2012," she said.

The sitting continues tomorrow.

- Bernama