The two-day session, formally called “engagement between state executive councillors and assemblymen”, was attended by 35 out of the 40 assemblymen.
Aside from the Pakatan Harapan assemblymen, two members from Umno and one from PAS also attended.
The five assemblymen absent comprised four from PPBM, who decided to boycott the meeting citing the withdrawal of allocations to them, and PKR’s Pantai Jerejak assemblyman, Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.
State government department and local government heads were also in attendance, with seating arrangements at the hotel’s ballroom replicating the seating plan at the legislature.
Chief minister Chow Kon Yeow chaired the meeting and sat in a row with his 10 exco members, fielding questions from the assemblymen.
A total of 129 questions were sent ahead of the event. Each exco member then took turns to deliver a 20-minute speech, followed by a 40-minute question-and-answer session before ending with a brief summary of what was discussed.
There were light moments at the meeting today as Chow and the master of ceremonies were referred to as “speaker”, and assemblymen stood up to interject.
The assembly speaker was not present. However, his deputy, Dr Amar Pritpal Abdullah, was present in his role as Sungai Bakap assemblyman.
A bell was rung once to remind exco members whenever they had 10 minutes left in their session and rung twice when it was time to wrap up. Other nomenclatures used in state assembly were also used.
In his opening remarks, Chow said the session was to ensure checks and balances on his administration, as the state assembly could not convene.
He said through the session, assemblymen were free to criticise and sound off the government to ensure state apparatus was in check, as how it would be done in the legislature.
“Ultimately, as wakil rakyat, it is our responsibility to ensure we fulfil their mandate and make sure their issues were resolved, besides overcoming the public health, economic and political crises,” he said.
Chow said the state had initially planned to hold the session online but with the state being under conditional movement control order, it was decided that an in-person meeting subject to strict compliance with the Covid-19 standard operating procedures be held instead.