KUALA LUMPUR, March 4 — The Dewan Rakyat has passed the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2025, aimed at making an institutional reform and improvement to the country's main democratic institution.
The bill was passed after receiving support from 148 MPs through bloc voting.
Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul said 17 MPs were not present, while 57 others abstained.
The Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2025 aims to amend, among others, Article 56 and Article 57 of the Federal Constitution by inserting a new Clause (5A).
The clause states that a person elected to be the President of the Senate and the Speaker or Deputy Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat does not lose their eligibility to hold the position due to their membership in the Parliamentary Services Council established under Federal law.
Earlier, during the wind-up of the bill's debate, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said said the amendments made are the first step to providing financial and administrative autonomy to the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara, the pillars of Parliament.
She emphasised that the amendments made are not for the executive or to give more power to the government, but rather to provide true freedom to Parliament.
The Dewan Rakyat and the Senate secretaries, for example, are the experts of Parliament, and their appointments and promotions should not be decided by the executive but rather by the legislative institution itself.
“They love their jobs, but their salaries are low, they have no vehicles, no researchers, they cannot afford to travel abroad, cannot afford to buy plane tickets, and the economic situation is tough.
“They are experts in the field of Parliament, and if they have to be replaced, we want to replace them with the best, not pressured by the executive on who they want, but who we want. This includes chairpersons and those who sit on the Parliamentary Services Council.
“We do not know how long we will govern, so we want an independent Parliament, and we need to be responsible as Members of Parliament. When Parliament is independent, it will not be easily dissolved,” Azalina said.
— Bernama
