Democracy On Leave? 122 MPs Absent In Dewan Rakyat During CMA Amendment Voting

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Slightly more than half of Members of Parliament (MP) were absent in Dewan Rakyat yesterday (9 December) when the Communications and Multimedia (Amendments) Bill 2024 was passed during a bloc vote called by the opposition, in an attempt to impede the proposed amendments.

As many as 122 out of 222 MPs were not present when votes were taken.

According to news outlet Scoop, Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul, in reading out the votes said 59 lawmakers voted in favour of the bill, 40 MPs voted against it, and one abstained from voting on the matter.

The bill was tabled for a third reading after the vote, and it was approved by a voice vote.

Just to note, the quorum of the House and of a Committee of the whole House must consist of the following:

For those who are unfamiliar with the term, a quorum is the number of members of an assembly that must be present at any of its meetings to make the proceedings of that meeting valid.

A number of netizens have voiced out on the matter, questioning the absence of half of the MPs in Dewan Rakyat.

One user on X (formerly Twitter) also highlighted that only 27% of MPs were present in parliament that day, questioning if democracy exists in the country.

Another X user called the absent MPs out, saying its an insult to the people who voted them in. He also said attending Dewan Rakyat sessions is the bare minimum of an MPs job, which they could not even fulfil.

Changes to the Communications and Multimedia Act

The proposed amendments to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) Act 1998 (Act 589) is aimed to improve the roles and strengthen the governance and operations of MCMC, making it more resilient and sustainable in regulating the communications and multimedia industry, said a Bernama report yesterday.

According to Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil, the act’s revisions will also help the industry become more targeted, capable, and effective by bolstering MCMC’s regulatory efforts.

Fahmi also said this aligns with the industry’s present expectations and advances on a local and global scale.

Regarding governance, the minister stated that one of the main changes to the Act is the separation of the CEO and Commission Chairman positions, which are now held by the same individual under the Act.

“In this regard, in order to establish a mechanism that can improve governance and operational efficiency, these two roles will be separated.

“This is also in line with the legal provisions for most other statutory bodies, where the two roles are held by different individuals,” Fahmi said when tabling the MCMC (Amendment) Bill 2024 for second reading in Dewan Rakyat yesterday.

Freedom of expression rights group condems the 2024 CMA

Article 19, a group advocating for rights to freedom of expression has criticized and strongly condemned the passing of the recent amendments to the Act.

In a joint statement with other civil society organisations, Article 19 said the Malaysian government’s Bill expands the MCMC’s power to decide online content, compel service providers to provide user data, and suspend Content Application Service Providers (CASPs) for non-compliance.

The statement continued saying the Act increases punitive measures for offenses and fails to repeal key provisions undermining freedom of expression.

“The Madani government’s stalling on human rights reforms fosters censorship, undermines accountability, and silences dissent, leading to a society with elusive transparency,” the statement said.

Article 19 further stated that the amendments grant the MCMC extensive powers to regulate online content, conduct searches and seizures without a warrant, and compel social media platforms to disclose user data without judicial oversight.

Touching on the matters of authority, the group said the Act also grants the MCMC immunity from court proceedings, further exclaiming that the amendments, which aim to streamline investigations, fail to address basic principles of liberty and international law’s requirement for internet censorship.

“They risk chilling free speech, eroding public trust, and enabling mass surveillance. The absence of independent judicial oversight in data access requests further exacerbates these violations. The Bill was passed without any guarantees of safeguards by the government,” wrote the joint statement.

Article 19 urges the Malaysian government to protect human rights

Article 19 (which the group based its name from) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) specifies the standards for freedom of expression, which must be met by any legislation aiming to control online material.

The United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression pointed out in 2018 that even though Malaysia is not a party to the ICCPR, the provisions of Article 19 of the ICCPR should guide Malaysia’s international legal obligations because they are based on Article 19 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR).

But the Bill doesn’t live up to these ideals, which makes room for abuse and overreach, claimed the group.

In the joint statement, Article 19 urges the Malaysian government to reverse course and uphold the freedom of expression by:

The group closed the joint statement with a list of the groups that endorsed it:

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