KUALA LUMPUR: Civil servants on duty in Parliament will not be affected by the introduction of the Parliamentary Services Bill 2025.
Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul said services in Parliament would undergo a division in administration or dichotomy between the Parliamentary Services Council and civil administration.
He said the council would be jointly chaired by the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara Speakers, assisted by four Deputy Speakers while the civil administration is lead by a chief administrator and civil servants from their respective parent services.
Johari said should the Bill be approved, civil servants in Parliament would be given the choice of remaining in Parliament or to return to their original parent services in the ministry or department.
"Those who are not assigned in the Dewan will carry on as usual, they are government officers, civil servants that have parent services like the Public Services Department (JPA).
"They are not tied to anything contained in the Act (Bill), they are still (assigned) there (in Parliament), except if they are transferred somewhere else. That's not within our power to block," he said at a media conference at the Parliament Building on Friday (Feb 28), together with Parliament chief administrator Datuk Ahmad Husaini Abdul Rahman.
Also, Johari said if the Parliamentary Services Bill is passed, the appointment of the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara secretaries requires the consent of the King.
"Secretaries of both Houses have direct responsibility to the Speaker and this is free from the JPA, the House through the council can appoint anyone it deems qualified to be secretary and according to the law, must obtain approval from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong," he said.
He noted that the Bill could return Parliament its independence and said he hoped that all MPs, whether backbenchers or the Opposition, would support the Bill that is scheduled to be tabled for the second reading next week.
"Independence of Parliament means Parliament has on its own the freedom to conduct duties that are contained in the Constitution. So we are no longer part of the executive, but we need to be separated from it," he said.
The Parliamentary Services Act 2025 that was tabled for the first reading on Monday, aims to set up Parliamentary services as a separate service from the civil service.
It also provides for the establishment of a council that will function to appoint and determine the terms and conditions of members of the Parliamentary Service, monitor all financial matters relating to the Parliamentary Service and develop and implement related programmes and training. – Bernama
