Yesterday, Dewan Rakyat secretary Nizam Mydin Bacha Mydin had said the sitting had been postponed to a new date which would be announced later.

He said the postponement was made by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin in accordance with the Standing Orders and was in line with risk analysis by the health ministry following a Covid-19 outbreak in Parliament.

Ismail said the Dewan Rakyat Speaker had chaired a special meeting before the sitting on the first day, during which health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah had given two suggestions.

“Firstly, Parliament must be postponed due to concerns over the increasing number of cases and, secondly, if possible, to reduce debating times to 2pm and the number of people in Parliament to a maximum of 80 people,” he was quoted as saying by Utusan Malaysia.

However, Ismail said they had decided to go ahead with the special sitting as there had been no significant increase in cases in the building yet.

It was only after the detection of more cases, he said, that Noor Hisham had advised the speaker to adjourn Parliament under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 (Act 342).

“We don’t know if we would infect our family once we go home.

“The identified positive cases had gone to the market, supermarket and mosques.

“There was concern that the cases would spread, which was why the health ministry was of the view that the parliamentary session should not continue.”

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