Pick up the pieces and fix the Parliamentary Services Act

The parliamentary caucus on reform and governance currently chaired by Port Dickson MP and PKR president Anwar Ibrahim was set up to lead the efforts to reform the parliamentary system and to address major issues on governance, looking into its weaknesses and generates initiatives to reform the administration.

The parliamentary caucus is also reported to be planning to revive the Parliamentary Services Act which was abolished in 19992 by the then BN government who then transferred the parliamentary administration under the direct purview of the Prime Minister’s Department with a minister without portfolio appointed to handle all affairs related to the parliamentary staffing, budgeting and administration.

To revive the Parliamentary Services Act, the caucus tasked to handle the effort must ensure that the future Act must be improvised and most not be part of the executive government’s instrument. The Act must ensure total independence of the parliamentary service, free from any interference on its affairs especially from the executive organs.

The affirm its independence, the Act must consist of a few independent entities of its own in order to be empowered to manage its own affairs effectively. A Parliamentary Service Commission, a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to handle the day-to-day affairs of the parliamentary service and a Parliamentary Corporation to take over the ownership of the parliament building and other complexes within the parliamentary compound, as well as other assets with are deemed part of the parliamentary operations.

Principle role of the Parliamentary Service

The principle roles of the parliamentary service must be spelled out in details as follows:

1. To provide administrative and support service to the House of Representative (Dewan Rakyat) the Senate (Dewan Negara), Members of Parliament (MPs) and Senators;
2. To administer funding entitlement for parliamentary purpose and to process its remittance;
3. To administer the entitlement of the cabinet ministers and the MPs, Senators, Speaker, Deputy Speakers of the House and the President of the Senate;
4. To administer the travel entitlement and its remittance to former MPs and former Senators;
5. To provide research service and data to MPs and Senators in support of their roles as people’s representatives.

Parliamentary Service Commission (Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Parlimen)

In order to determine, create and implement the policy related to parliamentary resources, staffing appointments, finances or any other matter related, the Parliamentary Service Commission must be established to perform the following roles:

1. To advise the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate on the matters of the services to be provided to the House, Senate, MPs, Senators, political parties, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and any other appointees or those participating in the inter-parliamentary programmes;
2. To advise the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate on the proposed direction related to the administration and the funding to support the research facility for MPs and Senators;
3. To appoint, hire or to contract any persons deemed fit to be officers, employees or research assistants to work in the parliamentary service;
4. To appoint a CEO to head and manage the day-to-day affairs of the parliamentary service, or any other senior executives to assist the CEO in ensuring the proper administration of the parliamentary service.

Parliamentary Corporation (Perbadanan Parlimen)

The formation of the Parliamentary Corporation should be a corporate entity with a perpetual succession and a common seal and may exercise all the rights, powers and privileges and may incur all liabilities and any obligations.

The Parliamentary Corporation shall be empowered to facilitate transactions, relevant to the duties of the parliamentary service; to acquire, hold and dispose of interests in any land, buildings, or any other assets for parliamentary purposes.

For the purpose of performing such functions, the Parliamentary Corporation may carry out the following:

1. Enter into deeds, contracts or arrangements to purchase, acquire, lease, sub-lease or license any building or parts of the building, or to acquire any interest in land or any other property;
2. To sell, transfer, dispose or assign any lease, land or building or part of building;
3. To enact, alter, rebuild or add any building;
4. To develop or improve any land, fit out any building;
5. To grant lease, tenancies, lease, license over land or parts of the building or parts of the building held by the Parliamentary Corporation and to create easement or any restrictions over such land or building.

Once the Parliamentary Service Act is revived and the Act comes into effect, the federal government via the Prime Minister’s Department or any other government ministries must undertake to transfer the ownership of the parliament building, any parts of the building, complexes or any other land, parliamentary officials, staffs, research facility and other assets within the building or land to the Parliamentary Corporation in ensuring the entire parliamentary system is no more part of the executive organ and becomes an independent entity with its own rights, powers and privileges.

Empowering the select committees

Asides turning the parliamentary system into an independent entity, the Parliamentary Services Act can also be added with another provision which could empower the parliamentary select committees to provide the most effective check and balance efforts in ensuring the executive government performs to its standards and to the best interest of our people and the nation.

Apart from this, the Act should also provide these select committees with powers to call, summon or demand for a close door or public hearings any members of the cabinet, deputy ministers, senior ministry officials or any other senior civil servants to answer questions or inquiries regarding budgets, public policy, implementations or whatsoever interests or issues that may generate public interests.

In doing this, the Act should also empower the government to provide an annual or monthly allocations to all these select committees and provide them with necessary research facilities, service and communications with all government ministries and agencies in support of the select committees’ effort to carry out its roles and responsibilities effectively.

Such allocations are crucial in order to allow select committees to establish their own administrative staffs, research and communication as well as to hire experts to assist them in the portfolios under their watch.

These particular reforms are indeed an important measure and a key to ensuring the parliamentary independence and dignity is upheld in order to ensure integrity and good governance for our nation.