KUALA LUMPUR: The Dewan Rakyat sitting this morning was delayed by two minutes after the prayer was read when the number of Members of Parliament (MPs) present did not meet the quorum requirement.
The motion for lack of quorum was raised by the Lipis MP, Datuk Abdul Rahman Mohamad from Barisan Nasional (BN), when Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof invited the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik to give a reply to the first oral question from Datuk Dr Hassan Bahrom (PH-Tampin)
“Yang Berhormat Mr Speaker, it appears there is insufficient quorum,” said Abdul Rahman while holding the House Standing Order.
Mohamad Ariff who was informed of the matter, later personally counted the number of MPs present twice before finding there were only 24 MPs present at the time.
The situation forced Mohamad Ariff to direct the Sergeant-at-Arms to ring the bell again to remind the MPs to enter the hall to attend the meeting.
After the bell was sounded, four more MPs entered the hall to attend the session which began as usual with Muhammad Bakhtiar replying the first question on efforts by the ministry to promote social culture in the country at the international level.
According to the Dewan Rakyat Meeting Standing Order Number 13 (1), the quorum for Council and Committee Meetings must be 26 MPs not including the chairman.
Subang MP Wong Chen in his Facebook website uploaded the status on absent MPs by saying: “We need 26 (MPs) to proceed. The sitting was suspended for two minutes ... the proceedings then continued with 28 MPs this morning with only one minister present and five deputy ministers. The government needs to buck up,” he said. — Bernama
