KUCHING: Parliament should reconvene earlier than September or October but with all precautionary measures in place.
Political analyst Dr Lee Kuok Tiung stressed that the separation of powers between the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary has to be understood and practised.
“The Executive branch cannot continue to trample on the constitutional jurisdiction of Parliament. This can precipitate a constitutional crisis in the country.
“The proclamation of the Emergency and the National Recovery Plan were never laid before Parliament and may have rendered them unconstitutional,” he said when contacted on Thursday (June 17).
He pointed out that Parliament staff might require some time to carry out all the necessary preparations, including coming up with suitable standard operating procedures (SOPs).
“When it is ready, the Parliament sitting should reconvene,” he said when commenting on the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s recent call for Parliament to be reconvened as soon as possible.
When unveiling the National Recovery Plan on Tuesday (June 15), Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin expressed commitment towards reconvening Parliament in the third phase of the nation’s recovery, which is expected to be in September or October this year.
Lee, who is also a senior lecturer at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS), said the nature of MPs’ responsibilities must be understood as well, whereby they went down to the ground to meet people in their respective constituencies.
As such, he stressed that during the reconvening of Parliament, Covid-19 transmissions would be a key concern.
“Most of the MPs have been vaccinated. The concern is a potential asymptomatic super-spreader,” he said.
On another matter, he congratulated Sarawak on managing to administer almost 50,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine on Wednesday alone.
“This shows that solidarity from the people is very crucial to make it happen. Private medical practitioners and volunteers turn up to help and the Sarawak government has made its own initiative to purchase vaccines,” Lee commended.
