On the morning of 16 July, I arrived early at the Speaker’s Office located in the middle of the ground floor of the main building of Parliament.
It is a fairly large section of the main building, complete with all the necessary and some unnecessary trappings of Speakership. Occupying the office thereafter, I had thought it was slightly overdone. It is surprisingly a large office with a large door but has no windows! When I was in the House of Commons in late 2019, the Speaker, John Bercow, invited me into his office; this centuries-old structure with a wealth of history. It has windows so you could see the outside world. Maybe our layout has something to do with modern interior design or architecture?
Windows aside, the Malaysian Dewan Rakyat Speaker’s office has a “secret” side door through which the Speaker could silently enter the main chamber of the House. It was through this side door that I entered led by Encik Ali Zulfakar, the Setiausaha Sulit Kanan (SUSK), or Senior Private Secretary for the Speaker’s Office. Serious parliamentary drama was brewing as I sat with Hakimah in the area reserved for distinguished visitors at the side nearest to the High Table where the Speaker would normally sit.
Everyone was looking distinguished and outwardly very YB-ish, civil and parliamentary. This was a new Parliament with a new Government with Members who used to be in a very outspoken Opposition. On the other side of the aisle the new Opposition sat with numerous Members who had only barely three months ago been Ministers, Deputy Ministers and even Deputy Speakers of the House. For many months thereafter and because the roles were reversed so suddenly in the Malaysian context, the Government Bench quite often thought and behaved as if they were still in the Opposition, and the new Opposition too often lapsed into feeling that they were still in government.
The atmosphere appeared to herald a promising beginning. Tun M was in the seat nearest to the Speaker’s platform. At 92, he was the oldest Prime Minister in the Commonwealth. Sitting next to him, Dato’ Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, or Kak Wan, was the first female Deputy Prime Minister for the nation. Muar representative Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, at 25, sitting somewhere in the middle of the front row was the youngest Minister in Malaysia. Among the backbenchers, Batu representative Prabakaran Parameswaran, sitting in the last row, was 22 years old and the second youngest MP on record. These were new records set. What could possibly go wrong on the first day of the Dewan Rakyat?
A Parliamentary welcome
Normally the Speaker would be reading Proclamations but on the first day of the first meeting of a new Parliament, there would be no functioning Speaker, his tenure having lapsed constitutionally, as I have explained in the previous Chapter. There would be no Deputy Speakers either since they have to be Members of Parliament and upon a dissolution of Parliament, automatically their offices as Deputy Speakers would lapse. Until a new Speaker is elected, the SUDR becomes, in a way, the most important person in the House with the authority to conduct the proceedings of the House. That explains why the first item on the agenda after the reading of the Royal Proclamation has to be the Election of the Speaker, followed by the taking of the oath by the Speaker. Only after that, do the Members of the House take their oaths, the election of the Deputy Speakers and the passing of the motion directing the Inspector-General of Police “to provide free passage to Members of Parliament”. All this is provided in Order 1 in the Standing Orders of the Dewan Rakyat.
To clear any confusion to the lay reader, the provision of “free passage” is a rather archaic ceremonial expression that Members of Parliament shall be allowed unimpeded access to the House and the Police Force has to assure this right. This is part of Parliamentary Rights and Privileges which is routinely repeated at the beginning of each session but contains an important statement of principle.
At precisely 10.06 am (Parliament starts a meeting at 10.00 am), Datuk Roosme, the SUDR, stood up and read the Royal Proclamation to the House. “Whereas Parliament was dissolved on the 7th of April 2018 ; and Whereas, according to Article 55(4) of the Federal Constitution Parliament must be convened and meet on a date not later than 120 days from the date of its dissolution….Therefore I, Sultan Muhammad V… in discharging my authority …under Article 55 of the Federal Constitution hereby summon Parliament to meet and appoint the 16th day of July 2018 at 10 am as the date and time for the first meeting of the first session of the 14th Parliament of Malaysia…” It was read in Malay of course.
After reading the Royal Proclamation, Datuk Roosme proceeded, “Ahli-ahli Yang Berhormat, menurut perkara 57 Perlembagaan Persekutuan…” She was interrupted in mid-sentence by the Member for Kota Bharu, Dato’ Seri Takiyuddin bin Hassan.
“Datuk Setiausaha Dewan, point of order…” Thankfully, we have “Penyata Rasmi” or the Hansard, which records verbatim the events of that day, and what an account it is. The atmosphere of the moment is better understood if I reproduce the relevant parts from the Hansard with a translation thereafter.
Dato’ Takiyuddin bin Hassan [Kota Bharu]: Datuk Setiausaha Dewan, point of order…
Setiausaha: …Dan mengikut aturan yang dinyatakan di dalam Peraturan Mesyuarat 1…
Dato’ Takiyuddin bin Hassan [Kota Bharu]: Datuk Setiausaha Dewan, point of order.
Setiausaha: Majlis Mesyuarat Dewan Rakyat akan menjalankan urusan memilih Tuan Yang di-Pertua Dewan Rakyat.
Dato’ Takiyuddin bin Hassan [Kota Bharu]: Point of order 4(1) – Aturan Memilih Tuan Yang di-Pertua.
Setiausaha: Mungkin dengar dahulu siapa yang saya akan sebut. Saya telah menerima satu cadangan untuk pemilihan Tuan Yang di-Pertua Dewan Rakyat. Cadangan itu datangnya daripada Yang Amat Berhormat Perdana Menteri dalam suratnya bertarikh 2 Julai 2018. [Dewan riuh] Oleh yang demikian…
Dato’ Takiyuddin bin Hassan [Kota Bharu]: Point of order!
Setiausaha: …Saya dengan segala hormatnya mempersilakan Yang Amat Berhormat Perdana Menteri
Dato’ Takiyuddin bin Hassan [Kota Bharu]: Point of order!
Setiausaha: …Untuk mencadangkan memilih Tuan Yang di-Pertua Dewan Rakyat.
Dato’ Takiyuddin bin Hassan [Kota Bharu]: Setiausaha Dewan, point of order 4(1). Point of order.
Setiausaha: Saya minta Yang Amat Berhormat mengemukakan
Dato’ Takiyuddin bin Hassan [Kota Bharu]: Point of order 4(1). Setiausaha Dewan, point of order.
Perdana Menteri [Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad]: Datuk Setiausaha, saya mencadangkan…
Dato’ Takiyuddin bin Hassan [Kota Bharu]: Point of order…
Seorang Ahli: Tarikh-tarikh itu pembohong! [Dewan riuh]
Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad: …Yang Berbahagia Dato’ Mohamad Ariff bin Md. Yusof Dato’
Dr. Noraini Ahmad [Parit Sulong]: Dengarlah point of order itu.
Dato’ Haji Che Abdullah bin Mat Nawi [Tumpat]: Pembohong!
Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad: … Menjadi Tuan Yang di-Pertua Dewan Rakyat dan mengikut Peraturan Mesyuarat 4(1) …
Seorang Ahli: Hoi, dengarlah…
Seorang Ahli: Point of order…
Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad: …Saya telah memastikan bahawa beliau bersetuju untuk berkhidmat jika dipilih.
Timbalan Perdana Menteri dan Menteri Wanita dan Pembangunan Keluarga [Dato’ Seri Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail]: Saya mohon menyokong.
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