COVID-19

Will there be a virtual miracle by the Cabinet on a virtual Parliament?

By Kit

April 29, 2020

Apakah yang dilakukan oleh Parlimen Malaysia semasa wabak Covid-19?

Mungkinkah akan berlaku keajaiban pagi ini yang mana Kabinet menarik semula keputusan persidangan Parlimen sehari, lalu membenarkan Parlimen bersidang selama dua hari secara fizikal dan lapan hari secara maya?

Di Singapura, Parlimen Singapura akan membentangkan satu rang undang-undang untuk meminda perlembagaan negara tersebut bagi membolehkan Parlimen Singapura bersidang secara maya.

Minggu lepas, Dewan Rakyat di United Kingdom telah bersidang dan bersetuju dengan rancangan untuk menubuhkan satu kamar perbahasan digital, yang dapat memuatkan 120 ahli parlimen menggunakan aplikasi persidangan video Zoom. Pada masa yang sama membenarkan sehingga 50 orang ahli parlimen untuk hadir secara fizikal ke Dewan.

Dewan Rakyat UK telah menjalankan persidangan maya digital pertamanya pada keesokan hari, 23 April, yang merangkumi sesi pertanyaan kepada Perdana Menteri selama 45 minit yang dijalankan oleh Menteri Luar memandangkan Perdana Menteri British masih lagi dalam proses pemulihan daripada jangkitan Covid-19, 10 minit sesi kenyataan menteri oleh Menteri Kesihatan dan Penjagaan Sosial, Matt Hancock yang kemudiannya diikuti dengan 45 minit sesi soal jawab. Keseluruhan 100 minit persidangan ini bertumpukan kepada satu perkara iaitu wabak Covid-19.

Apakah yang dilakukan oleh Parlimen Malaysia semasa wabak Covid-19 ini?

Memutuskan persidangan Parlimen selama satu hari saja, iaitu pada 18 Mei. Ini merupakan keputusan yang akan meletakkan Malaysia di tangga teratas dunia dari segi tindakan terburuk semasa Covid-19. Tindakan ini seolah-olah melemahkan dan mengetepikan Parlimen yang seharusnya menjalankan tanggungjawab bagi meneliti serta menyemak imbang tindakan kerajaan semasa negara dilanda wabak Covid-19!

Tanpa keraguan, jelas bahawa keputusan kerajaan mengenai persidangan Parlimen selama sehari ini berpunca daripada salah faham nasihat daripada pihak Kementerian Kesihatan Kesihatan (KKM) dan pakar perubatan pada pertengahan April. Maklumat yang disampaikan membuktikan Perintah Kawalan Pergerakan (PKP) yang dilaksanakan sejak 18 Mac berkesan dan berjaya dalam memutuskan rantaian jangkitan dan mendatarkan lengkungan jangkitan. Selain itu, jumlah kes baharu kini berada dalam satu trajektori menurun.

Adakah para menteri kita telah melakukan terlalu banyak kesilapan, seperti “air suam untuk mengelak Covid-19”, “Doraemon”, “Tik-Tok”, pertuduhan berat mengenai penyalahgunaan kuasa dan diskriminasi dalam pengedaran bantuan makanan kepada golongan memerlukan di kawasan Parlimen pembangkang, sehingga mereka tidak berani untuk hadir ke Parlimen bagi menjawab persoalan daripada ahli-ahli Parlimen?

Mesyuarat Kabinet pagi ini adalah peluang terakhir untuk menyelamatkan negara daripada malu besar akibat keputusan persidangan parlimen sehari kerana ia tindakan untuk melemahkan dan mengenepikan Parlimen daripada menjalankan tanggungjawabnya dalam meneliti dan menyemak imbang tindak-tanduk kerajaan sepanjang wabak Covid-19.

Adakah Kabinet akan meletakkan kepentingan negara, di atas semua kepentingan yang lain?

Adakah Kabinet akan mengisytiharkan Parlimen dan mengambil langkah adil sebagai “perkhidmatan penting” dalam wabak Covid-19? Tambahan lagi, adakah Kabinet akan berjaya menegakkan Perlembagaan Malaysia, prinsip kedaulatan Perlembagaan dalam Rukunegara, prinsip pemisahan kuasa di antara badan eksekutif, legislatif, dan kehakiman dan prinsip kedaulatan undang undang?

Mungkinkah akan berlaku keajaiban yang membolehkan persidangan secara maya?

Kita akan tahu pagi ini.

(Kenyataan Media Ahli Parlimen DAP Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang pada hari Rabu 29 April 2020)

==============================

Can the Cabinet this morning perform a virtual miracle – retract the one-day Parliament decision and allow Parliament to meet for two days in-person and eight days in virtual meeting?

In Singapore, Parliament next week will amend the Singapore Constitution to enable the holding of a virtual Parliament.

Last week, the House of Commons in the United Kingdom met and agreed to plans to set up a digital debating chamber with 120 MPs able to take part remotely using Zoom video conferencing software and a maximum of 50 allowed to be physically present.

It held its first “virtual” digital Parliament proceedings the next day on 23rd April, which included a 45-minute Prime Minister’s Question Time which was conducted by the Foreign Secretary as the British Prime Minister was recovering from Covid-19, a ten-minute Ministerial statement by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock and a 45-minute question-and-answer session by Matt Hancock – and all the 100 minutes were focused specifically on one subject, the Covid-19 pandemic.

What is Parliament in Malaysia doing in the Covid-19 pandemic?

Indulging in the shocking and ridiculous idea of a one-day Parliament on May 18 which will put Malaysia in the forefront of the world in bad practice during the Covid-19 pandemic in emasculating and marginalising Parliament instead of pioneering best practices in new ways and norms for the performance of the parliamentary role of oversight and scrutiny of government measures during the Covid-19 pandemic!

It has been established beyond a shadow of doubt that the government decision of the one-day Parliament on May 18 had been made from a complete misunderstanding of the advice of the Health Ministry and medical experts in mid-April that the movement control order (MCO) imposed on March 18 was effective and successful in breaking the chain of transmission of the coronavirus and that the Covid-19 epidemiological had been flattened and Malaysia was on downward descent of the curve.

Have the Ministers committed so many blunders, whether on “warm water cure for Covid-19”, “Doraemon”, “Tik-Tok” or serious allegations of misuse of power and corrupt practices in the discrimination of food aid parcels for needy B40 families in Opposition constituencies that they dare not appear in Parliament for an accounting?

The Cabinet meeting later this morning is the country’s last opportunity to spare the country from the twin ignominy of a one-day Parliament and the bad practice to emasculate and marginalise parliamentary oversight and scrutiny of government actions in the Covid-19 pandemic.

Will the Cabinet do so, putting national interest above all other interests?

Will the Cabinet declare Parliament and the administration of justice as “essential” services in the Covid-19 pandemic, upholding the Malaysian Constitution and the Rukunegara principles of the supremacy of the Constitution, the separation of powers among the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary and the rule of law?

Will there be a virtual miracle by the Cabinet on a virtual Parliament?

We will know this morning.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang on Wednesday 29th April 2020)