Speaker confirms PKR MP, 2 ministers may attend Dewan Rakyat despite quarantine

Two ministers and an opposition MP who were told to undergo quarantine under the health ministry’s home surveillance order (HSO) will be allowed to be attend the Dewan Rakyat to follow the remaining debates on the 2021 budget, speaker Azhar Harun says.

He added however that the trio would have to abide by the SOPs.

“They will be allowed to come and vote with permission from the health director-general, and by adhering to the conditions set by him,” Azhar told MalaysiaNow.

Health Minister Dr Adham Baba, Human Resources Minister M Saravanan, and PKR’s Batu MP P Prabakaran had been instructed to undergo HSO for two weeks.

This comes ahead of the last leg of the 2021 budget committee-stage debate, where allocations for five more ministers will have to be passed.

Law minister Takiyuddin Hassan, who is also in charge of parliamentary affairs, said all three would be isolated from the other MPs, and would be told to wear personal protective equipment.

Adham was ordered to undergo HSO after he was found to have been in close contact with a journalist who tested positive for Covid-19. Saravanan meanwhile said he had been a close contact of the CEO of his ministry’s Human Resources Development Fund, Shahul Hameed Dawood, who also tested positive for the virus.