THE Opposition’s boycott of debates on the Auditor-General’s Report 2021 Series 2 in the Dewan Rakyat was an isolated incident, says Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul (pic).
“Today is quite abnormal and is out of the norm,” he said in between debates on the report yesterday.
He said the House is usually full but the Opposition had decided on Tuesday not to be involved in the debates and discussions on the Audit Report.
“They decided to boycott and leave the House yesterday and today. This is not the norm and is unusual. Let us not perceive this as normal. This is an isolated incident,” he added.
RSN Rayer (PH-Jelutong) interjected and said the august House was peaceful without the Opposition.
Johari said the motion to debate the audit report, which was tabled for the first time and passed in the august House, was historic.
Meanwhile, some Opposition MPs were back in the House after the debates on the Audit Report concluded. Some had participated in the debates for the second reading for the amendment bill of the Malaysia Co-operative Societies Commission Act 2007.
On Tuesday, chaos erupted in the Dewan Rakyat after Perikatan Nasional MPs objected to the motion to debate the audit report.
The evening session of the Lower House saw vacant seats in the Opposition bloc as the Dewan Rakyat proceeded to debate the audit report that highlighted irregularities during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Perikatan chief whip Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan told the Dewan Rakyat that the move to debate the report had never been done before and the report was previously only laid on MPs’ tables.
