Malaysia's Parliament to sit for 5 days starting July 26 following calls from King for it to reconvene

Malaysia's Parliament to sit for 5 days starting July 26 following calls from King for it to reconvene
The sitting will be held to present a national recovery plan to lawmakers and to amend necessary laws to conduct hybrid Parliament meetings.
PHOTO: Reuters

KUALA LUMPUR - The Malaysian government has agreed to advise the country's King that Parliament will resume for five days from July 26 to Aug 2, the office of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said on Monday (July 5).

The sitting will be held to present a national recovery plan to lawmakers and to amend necessary laws to conduct hybrid Parliament meetings, the office said in a statement.

Malaysia's King, Sultan Abdullah Ahmad Shah, had previously conveyed his wish that Parliament sit before Aug 1 during a meeting with the Speakers of both the Lower and Upper Houses of Parliament. It was the second time he had urged Parliament to sit soon.

Tan Sri Muhyiddin had previously said that Parliament would sit by September at the earliest, when the Covid-19 outbreak eases. But he has come under increasing pressure to call for a sitting following the King's comments.

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Although Parliament is supposed to sit within six months of its last sitting in December, this constitutional provision is suspended during the current state of emergency, announced by the King on Jan 11.

He had granted Mr Muhyiddin's request for a state of emergency to help Malaysia contain a worsening Covid-19 outbreak. But the crisis has become worse during the emergency period.

Malaysia has been under a total lockdown since June 1, with June the deadliest month since the pandemic started in the country.

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