Where Do Speaker And His Deputies Stand On Opening Parliament

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Editor's note: Paragraphs three to six have been inserted following a press release by Azhar Azizan Harun, clarifying comments he made earlier to Utusan Malaysia.
As pressure from rulers and the public to reopen Parliament mounts, Dewan Rakyat speaker Azhar Azizan Harun and his two deputies offered slightly different responses.
Yesterday, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the Conference of Rulers expressed their wish to see Parliament and state legislative assemblies convened as soon as possible.
For Azhar, he said Parliament was ready to reconvene in accordance with the Federal Constitution.
"As the speaker of the Dewan Rakyat, my constitutional duty and commitment to Parliamentary democracy remain firm," he said in a statement. 
He added that news reports published earlier today citing him describing Putrajaya's decision to reconvene Parliament by September at the earliest as "rational" was a case of misreporting.
Azhar stressed that he has hitherto not commented on the statements released by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong or Conference of Rulers yesterday.
According to Putrajaya's National Recovery Plan, the reopening of Parliament can only take place in Phase Three.
To qualify for Phase Three, the daily new Covid-19 case count must be below 2,000 and 40 percent of the population has to be vaccinated. There must also be "sufficient" intensive care beds for Covid-19 patients.
Putrajaya has not clarified the many ambiguities concerning these conditions.
Deputy Dewan Rakyat speaker Mohd Rashid Hasnon's response was to thank the rulers for their decree.
"This was in line with the principles of constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy," said Rashid, who is also a Bersatu lawmaker representing Pasir Gudang.

The other deputy Dewan Rakyat speaker Azalina Said Othman offered the most pointed comment of the three.

On her Twitter page, Azalina asked if Malaysia was facing a "constitutional crisis".
She also offered an illustration of the matter at hand, suggesting that the issues raised by the rulers - the sovereignty of Parliament, saving lives, reducing bureaucracy in the vaccination programme and other matters - weighed more heavily than the executive's decision to "quarantine" the legislature.
Azalina, a four-term Umno lawmaker for Pengerang, also signalled her enthusiasm to see Parliament reopen by capping off her tweet with "#BukaParliamen".

On June 12, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin secured a proclamation of emergency as a means of enhancing the nation's Covid-19 response.

However, things have got progressively worse. In 16 days of June alone, the country has seen more deaths attributed to Covid-19 than the entire month of May.
Since last week, the Agong granted audience to 18 heads of political parties and convened a special Conference of Rulers.
Following this, the Agong and the Conference of Rulers decreed that the emergency should not be extended beyond the Aug 1 expiry date. The rulers also urged Putrajaya to convene Parliament as soon as possible. - Mkini

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