Four opposition MPs request seating change in Dewan Rakyat - Johari

KUALA LUMPUR: Four Members of Parliament (MPs) from the opposition bloc, who expressed support for Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, have submitted a request for a seating change in the Dewan Rakyat.

Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat Tan Sri Johari Abdul said he had received the application today and would hold a meeting with the MPs involved soon to discuss the matter.

"I will look at it as a whole, and all four of them have written to me and maybe after this Deepavali holiday... I have yet to make any decision," he said, at a press conference at the Parliament building today.

Recently, Datuk Iskandar Dzulkarnain Abdul Khalid (PN-Kuala Kangsar), Datuk Suhaili Abdul Rahman (PN-Labuan), Mohd Azizi Abu Naim (PN-Gua Musang) dan Zahari Kechik (PN-Jeli) expressed support for the Prime Minister's leadership.

Commenting on the support, Johari said that it had nothing to do with the Constitution (Amendment) (No.3) Act 2022 (Act A1663), which prohibits Members of the Dewan Rakyat from switching parties, which could cause them to lose their seats in Parliament.

"What is happening now is that they pledge support, that doesn't mean anything because they can support secretly or like now, openly, and the law does not restrict any person (MPs) from expressing support, that's why the seats are not lost," he said.

In an unrelated development, Johari, who is also a member of the National Scout Council, said that he would write to Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek on the directive issued by the Education Ministry to limit the participation to 30 students in scout units at schools.

"There was a directive, issued by the MOE a long time ago, which instructs each school not to allow more than 30 students to join the scouts, assuming the school has many other uniform units.

"I will ask the MOE to review (the directive) and insya-Allah I will write a letter to the minister for a review because we want to prepare the youths for the National Service Training Programme (PLKN). It does not make sense to limit participation to only 30 students," he said.

-- BERNAMA