Speaker says he has yet to receive reply from the Prime Minister’s Office on a date for new session of Parliament.

Speaker waiting for word on date of Dewan meeting
Nur Hasliza Mohd Salleh
-March 2, 2020 11:41 PM
The Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat, Mohd Ariff Md Yusof.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat, Mohd Ariff Md Yusof, says he has yet to receive a reply from the Prime Minister’s Office on a date for the new session of Parliament.

“We’re still waiting for an answer (from the PMO),” he told reporters briefly when met an event at Parliament House this evening.

Ariff had previously said he will be communicating with newly-appointed Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on whether the lower house’s sitting scheduled for March 9 will proceed or be postponed.

The Yang di-Pertuan Agong is scheduled to open the Third Meeting of the 14th Parliament on March 9 but the sitting may not take place on that date due to the change in government.

It was reported by the media that Muhyiddin may postpone proceedings until he can strengthen his position by ensuring the government possesses a comfortable majority in the Dewan Rakyat.

This comes after Pakatan Harapan (PH) claimed to have the support of 114 MPs, which is a small majority from the 222 seats.

The current situation is said to be uncertain as MPs are still changing their support following the collapse of PH after the Muhyiddin-led PPBM left the coalition.

Muhyiddin leads a new coalition government following the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan government last Monday with the support of PPBM, BN, PAS, GPS and a few other MPs.