KUALA LUMPUR: Parliament has once again deferred the appointment of a second Dewan Rakyat Deputy Speaker.
Although listed as the first item on Parliament's Order Paper, the appointment to fill the vacancy was postponed to the next meeting which is usually held in July.
The decision to defer the appointment was raised by Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin at the Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday (March 1).
The seat fell vacant in August following the resignation of Pengerang MP Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said.
Several names initially surfaced as potential replacements, among them Umno's Pontian MP Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan, who later declined.
However, no appointment was made to fill the vacancy with Azalina invited instead to fill the position on an ad hoc basis.
At present, only two names have been submitted for the vacant post, namely former deputy ppeaker Nga Kor Ming (PH-Teluk Intan) and Datuk Ramli Mohd Noor (BN-Cameron Highlands).
Nga previously held the post under the Pakatan Harapan administration while Ramli was nominated by Umno.
A heated contest was expected to take place to fill the post by way of voting in the House.
