Parliament should look to make arrangements for virtual sitting in the future, says Gopeng MCA's Cally Ting

IPOH: Parliament should begin making plans to enable a virtual Dewan Rakyat meeting in the future, says Gopeng MCA vice-chairman Cally Ting.

She said Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun should be more proactive and come up with procedures to allow the virtual sitting to be held.

"Holding a virtual sitting is complicated but not impossible.

"Even the Election Commission (EC) can think of alternative ways to hold elections during the pandemic," she said in a statement Tuesday (Oct 27).

"Had he started the process of using a virtual platform earlier, surely a big part of the legal and technical aspects can be ironed out," she said.

Azhar had reportedly remarked that the Dewan Rakyat proceedings cannot be conducted virtually as there were constitutional and legal restraints.

His remark did not sit well and had been chided by the people, including politicians.

Ting said Azhar's remark shows a lack of determination and capability to manage a crisis.

"We need to make plans with the expectations that Covid-19 will continue on for the foreseeable future.

"The crisis should be responded tp proactively and not reactively," she said.

"Forget about going back to the old normal, it will never happen.

"If you stay still and are hesitant to create a new norm, you will continuously be trapped in a crisis state," she added.