Dewan Rakyat: Five bills passed in the first week

KUALA LUMPUR: Five bills were passed during the first week of the second meeting, third session, of the 15th Parliament in the Dewan Rakyat.

They were the Employment Insurance System (Amendment) Bill 2024, the Workers’ Social Security (Amendment) Bill 2024, the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Bill 2023, the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) (Dissolution) Bill 2024, and the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) (Amendment) Bill 2024.

The latter two bills are meant to transfer Mavcom's functions to CAAM.

Meanwhile, the Audit (Amendment) Bill 2024, for the amendment of the Audit Act 1957 (Act 62), was presented for its first reading.

This week's session also saw the Dewan Rakyat approve a motion to refer Tasek Gelugor Member of Parliament, Datuk Wan Saiful Wan Jan, to the Rights and Privileges Committee, following allegations that the court charges against him could be dismissed and withdrawn.

The motion proposed by Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform), aims to determine whether the statement made by the Perikatan Nasional (PN) Member of Parliament was misleading to the Dewan Rakyat and detrimental to the interests of the parties involved in the case.

This week also saw Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim clarifying the purported sale of Malaysia Airport Holdings Bhd (MAHB) shares to Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), stating that the majority of the shares remain with national stakeholders.

"This differs from the external narrative. The external narrative suggests a sale, but it is not. Foreign companies have always owned around 27 percent, which is now taken over by GIP and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia).

"Do we have a sale involving airports? No. This only involves management, and MAHB is just a company that manages the airports. The airports remain the property of the Malaysian government," Anwar stated.

Azalina also presented the motion for the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) Annual Report and Financial Statement for 2021 and 2022, which was debated by 27 Members of Parliament.

The continuation of the debate on this motion and the winding-up session are next week.

The duration of the Second Meeting and Third Session of the 15th Parliament is 15 days until July 18. - Bernama