CHAPTER 4: THE DEWAN NEGARA AND THE DEWAN RAKYAT

In the last chapter, we mentioned that the Malaysian Parliament is made up of the Yang Dipertuan Agong and the two Houses (or Dewans) — the Senate (or Dewan Negara) and the House of Representatives (or Dewan Rakyat). We have already read about the functions of-the Yang Dipertuan Agong. Let us now have a look at both the Dewans — their composition, functions and other important aspects.

THE SENATE OR DEWAN NEGARA

The Senate is also referred to as the "Upper" House. It is made up of 58 members. 26 are chosen from the State — each of which sends two representatives. The 32 remainder are appointed by the Yang Dipertuan Agong. These are chosen with care and must be Malaysian citizens of at least thirty years of age. They must have rendered distinguished public service or have achieved distinction in the professions, commerce, industry, agriculture, cultural activities or social services or are representatives of racial minorities or are capable of representing the interests of aborigines. According to the Constitution, Parliament can increase the State representatives to three or reduce them to one only.

Once appqinted, a Senator holds office for six years. However, when the Senate was first composed, half the Senators were given a term of three years only. This was to ensure that only half the members of the Senate would be chosen every three years. The other half would thus be made up of old and experienced Senators and the work of the Senate could thus be carried out smoothly.

The President of the Senate and the Deputy President are elected by the members from amongst- themselves. There is no fixed term of office for the President. A new one is chosen as soon as a vacancy occurs. The President cannot be a member of any State Legislative Assembly. If he wishes, he will have to resign from the latter to carry on in his new post. As President, he presides over meetings, hfe has to maintain order and also advise on points of parliamentary procedure and practice. He has a casting vote and uses this when there is a tie. In short, his duties are very much like those of the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES       

The House of Representatives consists of 154 members, as shown in column 3 of the table on the next page.

Table 1

PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION RESULTS, 1978: NATIONAL, PENINSULAR MALAYSIA AND STATE

National Parliament
Parties	Seats Contested	Seats Won	Votes Obtained	% of Valid Votes
Barisan Nasional	153	131	1,996,307	57.5
UMNO	(74)	(69)
MCA	(27)	(17)
MIC	(4)	(3)
Gerakan	(6)	(4)
PPP	(1)	(0)
Non-party	(1)	(1)
Berjaya	(10)*	(9)*
USNO	(7)*	(5)
PBB	(8)	(8)
SUPP	(7)	(6)
SNAP	(9)	(9)
DAP	53	16	664,463	19.2
PAS	89	5	537,253	15.5
Sapo	1	1	10,150	0.3
Others	93	1 **	265,617	7.6
Total		154	3,473,790	100.0

* Includes officially endorsed 'independents' contesting the same seat.

**An independent.

The Barisan Nasional won 9 seats uncontested. The seats were won by UMNOI4I, MCAtt), Berjaya (I). PBB(l), SUPP(1) and SNAP(I).

The representatives are chosen by the people of the country or to be exact by their own constituencies. Citizens above the age of 21 years are eligible to vote and the person who gets the most votes in his constituency is elected.

After a general election, the primary task of the Representatives at the first meeting of the House is to elect a Speaker and his Deputy. He is chosen from amongst themselves and the Speaker must not be a member of any State Legislative Assembly. The post is one of great responsibility and the candidate is chosen with great care. He presides over all the meetings of the House and has great power. These include:

1.Maintenance of order in the House.

2.To ensure that during debates members raise issues that are relevant to the topic under consideration.

3.Interpret Standing Orders when a dispute arises.

4.To ensure that Bills presented to the Senate for approval are passed within the prescribed period.

This means that the Speaker can allow or prohibit any member from speaking, asking or answering questions. In the case of disorderly behaviour, the Speaker can order him to leave the House, by force if necessary. In the event of disorder in the House, he has the power to suspend or adjourn a sitting. In most cases and during a debate, a decision made by the Speaker is final. He can either allow the session to be an open or a close one. The Speaker can refuse a request for an adjournment. And finally, in case of a tie, he has the casting vote.

Members: Qualifications and Disqualifications

From the above, it can be seen that the Dewan Rakyat is probably the most important institution in the country. Apart from the fact that a member must be a Malaysian citizen over 21 years of age, it is necessary that the members who make up the Dewan must have a certain standing in the society that they represent. Thus, those with an unsound mind, who have been declared bankrupt, who have been convicted and sentenced to more than a year's imprisonment or a fine exceeding $2,000/-, or are guilty of any election and citizenship offences, are not allowed to become members of the House of Representatives.

Functions

Broadly speaking, the Dewan Rakyat performs three functions which are of great importance to the country.

Firstly, it is the Legislative authority. This means that it makes the Laws of the country. It must be pointed out here that laws are also made by State Assemblies, but their powers are limited only to local matters and that the supreme authority is the Dewan Rakyat.

Secondly, the Dewan Rakyat controls the finances of the country. Matters concerned with finance are discussed during the "budget sessions", which are probably the most important and longest meetings of the House. The collection of taxes, rates and other forms of revenue and expenditure must have the approval of the House.

Thirdly, Parliament is the place where the voice of the people is heard regarding national matters. The representatives of the people sit in the Dewan Rakyat. After a general election, the party which commands a majority in the Dewan is called upon to form a government. In case no single party commands a majority, then the party with the largest number of members is given the first opportunity to do so. He can do this with the help of another party or parties. This is called a coalition, and the partners must command more than half the votes of the House.

The leader of the coalition is then called upon to form the government. This government is responsible in particular to the House of Representatives. If it loses the confidence of the House and is not able to get the support of the majority, then the leader (the Prime Minister) may request His Majesty to dissolve Parliament. If he fails in this request, his government must resign. It is then left to the Yang Dipertuan Agong to either call upon another person to form a new government or dissolve Parliament and call for fresh elections.

THE ROLE OF THE OPPOSITION

We shall read more about elections in the next chapter. Here is is enough to say that the House of Representatives is elected on a Party System. In the 1978 elections Barisan Nasional polled a clear majority, and so its leader was asked to form the Government. The representatives of the other parties thus make up the Opposition.

The main reason for the presence of the Opposition is that there are always two sides to the picture. People have their own views on things that seem so simple to us. By giving a chance to the Opposition to put forward a point of view which is quite different from that of the Government, it is hoped that no decision will be made in a hurry. But this does not mean that the Opposition must speak against the Government on every issue that is debated. When the Opposition agrees with a proposal that the Government puts forward, it does not criticize it. Its policy is to criticize what the Government is doing and not block it from carrying out its duties.

The main target for which the members of the Opposition aim is the next election. They hope to defeat the Government then and run it themselves. So they try their best to get the opinion of the public on their side. They have thus to create a good picture with the voters. Nobody is going to vote an opposition into power if they have no respect for its members. There have been many cases of unruly behaviour in Parliament in many countries. Such a situation is not serious in this country.

We can, therefore, say that the role of the Opposition is an important one in a democratic country. It forces the Ministers and other members of Government to explain and defend their actions. They know that their actions are open to debate in the Dewan Rakyat. In this way the Opposition plays another important role — it tends to keep the administration honest. And this is of great benefit to the country. So a healthy Opposition is a credit to any country.

PARLIAMENTARY PRIVILEGES

According to the Constitution: "The validity of any proceedings in either House of Parliament or any committee thereof shall not be questioned in any court", and that "no person shall be liable to any proceedings in any court in respect of anything said or any vote given by him when taking part in any proceedings of either House of Parliament or any committee thereof."

These few lines in the Constitution are of great importance because they are connected with one of the main pillars on which Parliamentary Democracy is based. This is freedom of speech. Thus a member can say what he likes in Parliament (of course, within reason) without any fear of prosecution. He is thus immune from civil and criminal proceedings in courts for what he said in Parliament. It is for this reason that we sometimes hear of members challenging one another to repeat what he said in Parliament, "outside the House".

Each House is free to have its own procedure and has the right to punish members for breach of privileges or contempt of the House. Even those who are authorised by the House to act on its behalf have this immunity extended to them. It is only udder these conditions and with these privileges that Parliament is able to fulfil the responsibilities to it. And this it does by the procedure given below.

Parliamentary Procedure

We have had a look at the composition and other aspects of the Dewan Rakyat. Let us now see how the House carries out its functions. There are four main ways by which this is done:

1.By way of questions to Ministers.

2.By debate on a motion.

3.By speeches on a motion to adjourn.

4.By debate on a Bill.

One of the most effective ways by which members of the Opposition can ascertain how the Government in power is carrying on its responsibilities is by questioning Ministers on the work that their Ministries are doing. This is done during question time. At the beginning of each sitting, one hour is reserved for oral questions. How­ever, these questions which are printed and circulated to members must be submitted at least 2 weeks before the sitting. The Speaker has the power to request a question to be answered even at short notice, if in his opinion, it is of great importance.

Now let us go on to a debate on a motion. A motion is a decision or opinion which the House as a whole arrives at. Though this decision is arrived at after a good amount of discussion, it is always possible that many members do not agree with the motion. Thus the House debates the motion, and members take turns to either support or speak against it.

Sometimes it may happen that a member is not happy at the discussion that has taken place and wants the matter to be discussed again. He can then get up and move  the adjournment of the House to open a further discussion on that matter. Before he can do this, he must get the approval of the Speaker who will only approve if he is entirely satisfied with the genuiness of the request. Even then, nobody must object to the request and if that happens, then at least 15 members must support the request.

Once it has got the -necessary support, the adjournment provides members with another opportunity to speak and make their views heard. The importance of this is that it gives the Government another opportunity to note the views of the House, because no member of the Government can move a motion for adjournment.

We have read above that the Dewan Rakyat is the Legislative Authority and makes the Laws of the country. Parliament makes these decisions by way of Acts of Parliament. But before this can be done, a Bill has to be introduced to either House by the Government or a Member as an individual. However, in the case of a Money Bill, this can only be introduced by a Minister and in the Dewan Rakyat.

Each B.ill must undergo three "readings" in each House before it can be passed. On the first occasion, the Clerk at the Table reads the Bill. It is then ordered to be printed and be ready for the second "reading". At the same time, members are also told of the second reading and are given copies of the Bill.

The most important stage of the Bill is at the second "reading". Members then debate on the good and bad points of the Bill. If after this, the Bill does not get the approval of the House, it cannot become Law. If it gets the necessary approval, it is then passed on to a Select Committee. It can amend the Bill if it thinks fit, but the amended Bill must be approved by the member who first tabled it before the House. After this, it is prevented for the third "reading" and put to vote.

The Bill must be passed by both Houses, otherwise it cannot become Law. We may also mention here that the Senate can only delay the passing of the Bill but cannot, like the Dewan Rakyat, veto the Bill. If the Senate delays the Bill to the maximum period permitted by the Constitution and the Dewan Rakyat still approves it, it is presented to the Yang Dipertuan Agong for his assent.

The Yang Dipertuan Agong must give his assent for a Bill to become Law. This assent is given on the advice of the Cabinet. The Public Seal is then affixed to the Bill. The next step is to make the Bill public. This is done by publishing it. Only then can the new Law come into force.

In conclusion, we can say that from the above account, it is clear that the represent­atives at the Dewan Rakyat and the Dewan Negara play an important part in our democratic way of life.