Lack of quorum in Parliament, again
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 20 — Dewan Rakyat proceedings halted temporarily this morning shortly after sitting as there were insufficient MPs in the House.
Barisan Nasional lawmaker Datuk Abdul Rahman Mohamad (Lipis) raised the matter just before the first question was posed by Tampin (PH) MP Datuk Hasan Baharom during Question Time.
“Yang di Pertua, point of order. There’s not enough quorum in the House,” said Abdul Rahman, catching the attention of Speaker Tan Sri Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof.
Mohamad Ariff began counting how many MPs were in the Lower House and was heard to say that there was only 24 MPs out of 222.
Parliamentary Standing Orders states a minimum of 26 MPs must be in the House.
The Speaker rang the bell for a full minute the second time and several MPs, including Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Hannah Yeoh and Port Dickson MP Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, were seen rushing into the House.
Opposition members including its chief, Bera MP Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, and Parit Sulong MP Datuk Noraini Ahmad was also seen walking around Parliament lobby with an amused look on their face while the bell was being rung.
This is the second time that the number of MPs dropped below quorum since the current third meeting of the second session of the Dewan Rakyat started on October 7. The meeting will last until December 5 this year.
On October 17, Deputy Speaker Nga Kor Ming was forced to ring the bell to get MPs into the house after 4pm.
Back then, Ismail Sabri slammed Pakatan Harapan MPs for not taking the Budget speech seriously, calling it a black day for Parliament.
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