Well, Member of Parliament(MPs) and Senators can submit WRITTEN questions every Parliamentary session, and they would get an answer to these questions for the government, i.e. from the relevant Minister/Ministry but sadly, Malaysians would never know the question and the answer unless our MPs and Senators share it with us - transparently disclose this information.
The Malaysian Parliament website sadly does not disclose written questions and answers, which it really should. Only the oral questions are disclosed in the Agenda, and if it is dealt with during the parliamentary session, then we get to see the questions and the answers in the Hansard.
Rightly, parliament website should also contain records of all questions asked by our Parliamentarians, and the answers to these questions.
Now, over the years I have been submitting questions to Parliamentarians to ask ... and some good ones do ask these questions in the form of WRITTEN questions, and do later disclose the answers they receive...
Problem with a lot of Malaysian Parliamentarians, is that they do not consult with the people, they do not share.... They ask written questions, get written answers and just do not share... They should be putting it up on their Blogs, Websites, FB Pages, etc ... and political parties should be putting all these questions and answers on their websites and in their various publications. You are the people's representatives and we deserve to KNOW....
A good Parliamentarian would...
1 - Engage with the people, ask them whether they have any questions to be submitted to people - see for example Teresa Kok - Do you have any questions for me to ask in Parliament?
2 - Then, when you submit your questions, inform every one ---see for example Fuziah Salleh SOALAN-SOALAN UNTUK PERSIDANGAN DEWAN RAKYAT
3 - Most importantly, share with the people the answers received, not just to the oral questions(Soalan Lisan) - see Nurul Izzah - Jawapan Soalan-soalan Parlimen Mesyuarat Pertama Penggal ke-5
BUT most importantly, the answers to the written questions (i.e. those that will not be reported in the Hansard)... Lim Guan Eng - Jawapan bagi Pertanyaan Bertulis Ahli Parlimen Kawasan Bagan Lim Guan Eng di Sidang Dewan Rakyat Mesyuarat Pertama, Penggal Keempat, Parlimen Kedua Belas (Mac- Apr 2011), and also Teresa Kok -Jawapan Parlimen: Kenapakah Ahli Parlimen Bintulu Tidak Didakwa Dlm Kes PKFZ?
Just Scan The Response and Upload it - or type out the answers - give us the actual answers, and good also to include the Parliamentarian comments. Tony Pua, for example, goes to press and tells us about the written answers - Home Ministry Hides Crime Stats But Tony Pua, sometimes we just need to see the actual words of the answers given ...who knows others may see something else from the answers as well...
4 - Tell us also about questions that have been rejected by the Speaker like Teresa Kok -Why the Speaker didn’t allow Defence Minister Najib to tell me the cost of military operations and arms purchase
Some good MPs and Senators are doing this (sometimes not always)... but majority does not even do this, and the people are kept in the dark as to the answers given by the Government ... we cannot depend on the media who just select what they think is 'important' - so we need our Parliamentarians to follow the good practices ....
Pakatan Rakyat should also collect and compile all written questions(non-oral questions) and answers on their website/blog so that the people will have easy access... PEOPLE want to know the answers to questions raised...
Parliament should also make sure a record of all non-oral(written) questions and answers can be accessed easily by the public so that people are not kept in the DARK...
When we do not get the answer, we ask and ask...problem is that the answers may have long ago been given to some Parliamentarian and he has 'secretly' filed away that answer, thinking that only he/she has the right to an answer not the Malaysian public --- we really need to kick out such MPs/Senators...
Does anyone know what questions (especially non-oral written type) did Anwar Ibrahim submit, and what were the answers he received? Surely, the Opposition leader must set the example .... to ensure accountability and transparency between people's rep and the people?
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