PETALING JAYA: When the government failed to get enough votes in Parliament in March to pass the PM term limit Bill due to many MPs being absent, Roshinee Mookaiah had had enough.
She started a one-woman project that may be able to change that, with the help of the public.
“If any of us don't go to work, even for like, one week, we're going to get fired,” she said. “But why are our Malaysian policymakers, our lawmakers, held to such a different standard?”
The 32-year-old launched a project called ‘Dilarang Ponteng Parlimen’ (No Parliamentary Truancy) to hold MPs, who skip Parliament without reason, accountable. She’s doing this through a parliamentary petition, a recognised parliamentary procedure that was rarely ever used until 2020, when Awam, a local NGO, wanted to expedite the Anti-Sexual Harassment Bill.
What makes parliamentary petitions different from a normal petition is that not only is it a formal process for the public to request direct action from the Dewan Rakyat, but if the petition is accepted, MPs must discuss it and provide a response to the public.
Roshinee, a consultant by day and content creator by night, announced her project on April 13 on her social media platforms and has shared how others can help make the parliamentary petition successful.
The petition has a few demands, with the main ones including reducing the period of absenteeism by MPs without reason, stronger disciplinary action against those skipping Parliament without reason, public records of attendance and participation of all MPs in parliamentary meetings, and the deduction of MPs’ salaries based on absences from Parliament.
According to the Constitution, Malaysian MPs are allowed to miss parliamentary sittings for up to six months without reason. The Dewan Rakyat Speaker, Tan Sri Johari Abdul, said last December that there are no plans to make MPs’ attendance compulsory.
Roshinee's initial target for the petition was 500 physical signatures from legal adult Malaysians. So far, she has reached 425 signatures in hand, thanks to the signature collection session she held last Saturday (April 18) near Bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad.
Now she’s aiming for 1,000 physical signatures and is hosting her second session this coming Sunday (April 26) at Perdana Botanical Gardens, in hopes that it’ll send a message to policymakers about how serious parliamentary absenteeism is.
“So right now I've set myself a new target of reaching 1,000. You know, just to really drill it in that people care, that they do pay attention to this.”
This project also encourages the public to take matters into their own hands by getting their community members involved and helping collect signatures before the deadline in mid-May. After meeting signatories last weekend at their first session, Roshinee felt extremely encouraged by how many people from different walks of life came all the way from different parts of the Klang Valley, and even some from out of town, to sign her petition in person.
“It's all different pockets of community who are self-organising themselves and their community to be involved,” she said.
“It's so encouraging to see that level of political involvement and community involvement.”
The next step after she collects all signatures by mid-May, she will need an MP to sponsor and bring the parliamentary petition with its signatures to the next parliamentary session, which is on June 22.
