KUALA LUMPUR: MPs who regularly fail to attend Dewan Rakyat sittings will not only get a talking-to from the Prime Minister but for some, they may even lose their Cabinet positions.
The Prime Minister has suggested that parliamentary attendance be made a factor in his deciding which MPs to drop when he reshuffled his Cabinet.
“We will have to talk to the parliamentarians; they were very anxious to be candidates but after being elected, they are behaving as if they are not serious about serving the people,” said Dr Mahathir when asked if he was going to crack the whip on absentee MPs – an issue that has been highlighted a couple of times during the current Dewan Rakyat meeting.
He was speaking to the media after officiating the eighth International Social Well-being Conference 2019 organised by the Employees Provident Fund here yesterday.
On how Parliament attendance would be used as a factor in the impending revamp of the Cabinet, Dr Mahathir simply said: “It is up to me.”
On Wednesday, Dr Mahathir announced that a Cabinet reshuffle was needed after Pakatan Harapan’s resounding defeat in the Tanjung Piai by-election on Nov 16.
He added that if non-attendance was a way for MPs to protest against his leadership, there were other ways to do so.
“If they don’t like me, they can say so openly. I am subject to criticism,” said Dr Mahathir, flanked by Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng and Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
On another matter, Dr Mahathir said he agreed with PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim that anyone aspiring to be Prime Minister should do it the right way.
“I agree with him (Anwar) – must be PM the right way, ” he said.
Anwar had commented that those who wanted to be prime minister should not hold secret meetings but get a consensus among Pakatan parties – in an apparent dig at his party deputy Datuk Seri Azmin Ali, who held a meeting with 22 Umno MPs and several PKR lawmakers at his residence in Putrajaya on Nov 18.
The Prime Minister has suggested that parliamentary attendance be made a factor in his deciding which MPs to drop when he reshuffled his Cabinet.
“We will have to talk to the parliamentarians; they were very anxious to be candidates but after being elected, they are behaving as if they are not serious about serving the people,” said Dr Mahathir when asked if he was going to crack the whip on absentee MPs – an issue that has been highlighted a couple of times during the current Dewan Rakyat meeting.
He was speaking to the media after officiating the eighth International Social Well-being Conference 2019 organised by the Employees Provident Fund here yesterday.
On how Parliament attendance would be used as a factor in the impending revamp of the Cabinet, Dr Mahathir simply said: “It is up to me.”
On Wednesday, Dr Mahathir announced that a Cabinet reshuffle was needed after Pakatan Harapan’s resounding defeat in the Tanjung Piai by-election on Nov 16.
He added that if non-attendance was a way for MPs to protest against his leadership, there were other ways to do so.
“If they don’t like me, they can say so openly. I am subject to criticism,” said Dr Mahathir, flanked by Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng and Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
On another matter, Dr Mahathir said he agreed with PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim that anyone aspiring to be Prime Minister should do it the right way.
“I agree with him (Anwar) – must be PM the right way, ” he said.
Anwar had commented that those who wanted to be prime minister should not hold secret meetings but get a consensus among Pakatan parties – in an apparent dig at his party deputy Datuk Seri Azmin Ali, who held a meeting with 22 Umno MPs and several PKR lawmakers at his residence in Putrajaya on Nov 18.
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