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AHEAD of the last day of the Dewan Rakyat sitting today, Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul said MPs must do away with party politics and have better debates in future sessions.
He said MPs were responsible for communicating their constituents’ needs and should not just champion their political parties during debates.
“I would like to remind them they are paid to come to the Dewan Rakyat to speak on behalf of the people. The moment you enter, that is the people’s time, and you must speak for them,” he said on Bernama TV’s “Ruang Bicara” today.
Johari said MPs must prepare themselves by reading up on matters brought to the lower house so debate would be more fruitful and mature, leading to more substantive discussions.
He said parliament would prepare a training session for MPs on how to ask and prepare questions for the next Dewan Rakyat session in February.
Johari said his office would prepare a more systematic Youth Parliament to increase the interest and involvement of young people.
“I am preparing a method for how they can contest. The total (Youth MPs) is 222, just like in parliament (Dewan Rakyat). We are looking at how youth can be involved in electing Youth MPs.
“Our hope is for Youth MPs to eventually join the Dewan Rakyat, representing the parties they prefer,” he said.
Commenting on parliament’s 2023 success, Johari said he was proud of the empowerment of 10 special select committees, which held more than 100 meetings and a parliament open day. – Bernama, November 30, 2023.