Dewan Rakyat to focus on govt plans for postponing, scrapping new projects

The government's plans for postponing or cancelling new projects are expected to be the focus of today's Dewan Rakyat sitting.

According to the Order Paper uploaded on the Parliament's official website, the topic will be raised by Ahmad Fahmi Mohamed Fadzil (PH-Lembah Pantai), who will ask the prime minister to name the projects with cost savings involved during ministerial question time.

Also listed is a question to be posed by Wong Hon Wai (PH-Bukit Bendera) to the defence minister on the form of the trilateral cooperative arrangement among the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia and whether military cooperation will be extended to other Asean countries.

During the question and answer session, Ahmad Fadhli Shaari (PAS-Pasir Mas) will ask the prime minister to state the total amount of allocations for flood relief channelled to affected states for the victims of the 2021/2022 northeast monsoon floods.

Mohd Hatta Md Ramli (PH-Lumut) will ask the works minister to state the measures taken to address the issue of the 50,000 Bumiputera contractors who will soon go bankrupt due to the increase in the price of construction materials.

After the session, the health ministry is expected to table the Poisons (Amendment) Bill 2022 for the second reading and to be debated by MPs.

The Constitution (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2022 and the Provision on Prohibition of MPs Switching Parties meanwhile is listed as item number six on the Order Paper.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Parliament and Law) Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar earlier said that the bill was proposed for debate on July 27 and 28, subject to the discretion of the Parliament speaker.

He also said the meeting had proposed a timeline for the engagement of the Legal Affairs Division and the Attorney-General's Chambers with government MPs to be held on July 25 and with opposition MPs on July 26.

Wan Junaidi said after obtaining the approval of the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara, the bill would be presented to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong between Aug 11 and 26 for approval and is expected to be gazetted between Aug 29 and Sept 2.

The current Dewan Rakyat sitting will run for 12 days until Aug 4.