MPs notified of Dewan Rakyat special sitting on TPPA

Notice of the special sitting of the Dewan Rakyat on Jan 26 and 27 to debate the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement was issued to all MPs on Jan 7, said Dewan Rakyat secretary Datuk Roosme Hamzah.

She said the house would sit, as usual, from 10am to 5.30pm, unless there was any motion to extend the hours.

"It depends on the number of MPs who would want to speak during the debate upon the agreement of the Speaker. If there is a need for an extension, the government will table a motion on that," she told Bernama.

Roosme said a complete document on the TPPA was distributed to all the MPs in December last year before the last session of the Dewan Rakyat was adjourned.

"Before they (MPs) left, everyone received the TPPA documents, and the MPs also got quite a number of sessions among them (to discuss the TPPA), including one with the Ministry of International Trade and Industry," she said.

READ: Minor amendment to laws related to TPPA - Mustapa

The Parliament calendar indicates that a special sitting of the Dewan Negara would be held a day after the Dewan Rakyat sitting, also to discuss the TPPA.

Malaysia is one 12 countries that completed discussion on the TPPA on Oct 5 last year. The other countries are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam.

The last time Parliament held a special sitting was on July 23, 2014, when it discussed the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, killing all 298 people on board.