KUCHING: Bills tabled in Parliament should go through a bipartisan select committee for review or get polished, said Bandar Kuching MP, Dr Kelvin Yii.
He said in New Zealand, for example, after first the reading of a bill it is first sent to a select committee to be reviewed before the second reading and eventually passed.
“In Malaysia, most often than not, the bills are just tabled and pushed through for all the readings without going through a bipartisan select committee.
“Recently, we have been trying to improve, so in the health committee, which I lead, we reviewed two major legislations — the Infectious Disease Control Act and the Tobacco Control Bill 2022.
“This is supposed to be practised more to strengthen our parliamentary democracy and involve the MPs more in our policy-making responsibility,” he said today in his Facebook post.
Prior to that, Yii’s delegation had a fruitful meeting with the New Zealand’s Economic Development, Science and Innovation Parliamentary Select Committee lead by MP Jamie Strange.
“They have five MPs in the committee including Judith Collins, who was the leader of the opposition and former leader of the National Party.
“This committee looks at business related to business development, tourism, Crown minerals, commerce, consumer protection and trading standards, research, science, innovation, intellectual property, broadcasting, communications, and information technology.
“It is good to discuss and exchange notes of Select committee procedures,” he said.
