The sixth meeting of the 13th Parliament will be officially opened by the Yang di Pertuan Agong on Monday with a policy address on the government policy measures in the pipeline.
The Parliamentary meeting scheduled from March 5 to April 5 is quite odd and most unprecedented as there had never been a sixth annual official opening of Parliament in the nation’s 61-year history under the first five Prime Ministers.
This is because under our political system, Parliament has a tenure of five years and it is never intended to have a sixth annual parliamentary meeting.
Furthermore, the policy address of the Yang di Pertuan Agong is meant to outline the government’s policy direction and specifics for the next 12 months
But the present Najib does not have 12 months, as its term will expire in less than six months.
As Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who will be Malaysia’s eighth Prime Minister if Pakatan Harapan wins the 14th General Election, will be released from the Sungai Buloh prison in less than 100 days, Najib should be holding 14th General Election before Anwar can freely tour the country to campaign for Pakatan Harapan and the election of Tun Mahathir Mohamad as Malaysia’s seventh Prime Minister.
This would mean that the 14th General Election should be held in less than 75 days before mid-May.
But there are those who expect Parliament to be dissolved this month itself, after the Election Commission has rushed its report and proposals on the redelineation of parliamentary constituencies to the Prime Minister for adoption by Parliament.
I call on the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to give an assurance that there will be no contempt of the Yang di Pertuan Agong and that Parliament officially opened on Monday will not be dissolved mid-session for the holding of the 14GE.
Otherwise, Parliament will only be a plaything in the hands of the Prime Minister, which clearly is not the intention of the nation’s founders who deliberated and agreed on the fundamental principles of the country’s Constitution.
(Speech at the Chinese New Year Open House of DAP Johore State Assemblyman for Stulang, Andrew Chen in Johor Baru on Thursday, 1st March 2018 at 7 pm)