“If they are truly responsible MPs, they won’t purposely skip Parliament sittings without valid reasons,” he said at the Parliament lobby today.
“But if they miss out on sessions, do not debate and have no good reason for not attending, I think their respective parties should then take action,” Salahuddin said.
He said this also applied to MPs who showed up in Parliament only to “nod their heads” and claim salaries and expenses.
However, he said all MPs and Cabinet members must be given the opportunity to explain themselves if they fail to show up.
He was responding to former minister Rais Yatim’s tweets earlier today that the monthly allowances of MPs should be slashed if there was an insufficient number of MPs in the Dewan Rakyat for the parliamentary sittings to be held.
This afternoon’s proceedings in the Dewan Rakyat were delayed due to a lack of quorum. The bell had to be rung twice to summon MPs.
Proceedings only continued when 35 of the 222 MPs were present.
Salahuddin said his comments on the matter did not apply to today’s incident as it had been clarified that the missing MPs had other obligations to attend to.
DAP lawmaker Ngeh Koo Ham had told Malaysiakini that the missing government MPs were meeting elsewhere in the Parliament building at the time but had proceeded to the hall as soon as the bell rang.
Salahuddin said it was unrealistic to expect Cabinet members to be present at all Parliament proceedings as they had other obligations and duties to carry out in addition to their MP duties.
He seemed to be echoing what Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said yesterday that it was not practical for ministers to be in the Dewan Rakyat at all times as they also had to attend to their ministerial duties.
The Dewan Rakyat is into its second week of sitting. The current session ends on Aug 16.