KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 1 — His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, King of Malaysia, will open the First Meeting of the Fourth Session of the 15th Parliament on Monday.
Sultan Ibrahim will deliver the royal address, with the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara holding their meetings simultaneously.
The royal address is expected to touch on key matters including national development and Malaysia’s role as this year’s Asean chair.
The opening ceremony will begin with the arrival of His Majesty at the Parliament Square, where he will inspect a guard-of-honour mounted by personnel from the Royal Malay Regiment Battalion, Sungai Besi Camp.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, his two deputies, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof, Cabinet members and heads of foreign delegations are also scheduled to attend the ceremony.
According to the Parliament website, this sitting will last 18 days, with the main focus to be the debate on the royal address by MPs for seven days from Tuesday and wind-ups by several ministries from February 19 to 25.
Debates on bills and other government matters will be held over the final six days of the meeting, from February 26.
The Dewan Negara is scheduled to sit for 13 days, starting March 3.
Among the key items in this Dewan Rakyat sitting agenda is the second reading of several bills, including the Mufti (Federal Territories) Bill 2024, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (Amendment) Bill 2024, the Malaysian Media Council Bill 2024, and the Bernama (Amendment) Bill 2024.
Additionally, the White Paper on the Ageing Nation Agenda is expected to be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat, focusing on medium- and long-term socio-economic development plans as Malaysia approaches ageing nation status by 2030 and aged nation status by 2044.
Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul said this Dewan Rakyat meeting would be conducted more strictly, with no tolerance for political manoeuvring among MPs.
Nevertheless, he expressed confidence that all MPs would demonstrate professionalism and maturity in discussing issues concerning the people.
“Parliamentary discussions must focus more on national development and the well-being of the people. I will also be firmer and not allow political games to persist during the sitting.
“The sitting should focus on the contents of the royal address, which I expect will touch on national development, given that last year we saw positive economic indicators as well as Malaysia’s Asean Chairmanship and the 46th Asean Inter-Parliamentary Assembly General Assembly,” he said.
— Bernama
