KUALA LUMPUR - Members of Parliament (MPs) will not be allowed to live-stream their speeches in Parliament using their own electronic devices, such as mobile phones, beginning today (Oct 16), said Dewan Rakyat speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul.
He said the act is a clear violation of Standing Order 35 (1), which states that MPs who wish to speak shall rise in their place and, if called upon, shall stand and address their observations to the Chair or speaker, who presides over the sitting.
"To ensure that MPs comply with the Standing Order, I hereby order that MPs in the Dewan Rakyat are no longer allowed to set up devices to do live streaming," he said.
Johari said the Dewan Rakyat sitting can be watched through Parliament's official YouTube account and other media channels, such as Radio Televisyen Malaysia.
Responding to the interjection from Datuk Ronald Kiandee Johari (PN-Beluran), who disagreed with the directive, Johari said the action was taken after observing that some lawmakers were losing focus on the Parliament session while interacting with the audience via live stream.
Johari said that MPs in Parliament should prioritise discussing and resolving people's problems.
"The moment you speak to your audience, your concentration is no longer on the House. From here I can see that some (MPs) take half an hour to set up their devices; they were not discussing the people's problems in the Dewan Rakyat, but rather communicating with their audience (in the live stream); this is very bad," he said. Johari said MPs can use video clips from the Malaysian Parliament's official YouTube channel as content on their respective social media accounts if necessary.
Meanwhile, he said the Prime Minister is now only permitted to answer two questions in 15 minutes each during Ministers' Question Time (MQT), to allow more questions to be answered by the ministries.
He said the matter was in line with Standing Orders 100, 24(5A) and 24A(7).
"This directive will come into effect tomorrow, Tuesday (Oct 17)," he said.- BERNAMA