Speaking at the “Save the Democracy and Uphold the Rule of Law” webinar, Wong Chin Huat of Sunway University said that very few opportunities were given to MPs to table their private members’ bills as they had only 60 days to do so.

Wong said he found the period to be too short.

“We have not seen private members’ bills being tabled (recently). (Former Sungai Siput MP) Dr Michael Jayakumar (Devaraj) in the past filed a motion on the Social Inclusion Act Bill and it never got the chance to be tabled,” he said.

“Even government MPs and backbenchers like (Pengerang MP) Azalina (Othman Said) proposed a bill for a recall (mechanism) and it never got through.”

Wong also proposed that one-sixth of the parliamentary sitting hours in a day be given to both opposition and government MPs to debate their bills so that the Dewan Rakyat would not become an arena solely for ministers “to put up a good show”.

He argued that such parliamentary reforms would produce a new generation of ministers who could pick up better debating skills and expertise.

In 2014, Jayakumar filed a motion to table a Social Inclusion Act Bill that calls for the creation of a Social Inclusion Commission which would provide oversight on matters of poverty reduction, affirmative action and social inclusiveness.

The motion was rejected by the Speaker. Last year, Azalina tabled a motion for her recall mechanism bill to be tabled, which was also rejected by the Dewan Rakyat Speaker.

Under the recall election mechanism, voters of the constituency will have an option to remove the elected representative in mid-term polls if they disapprove of the person’s actions, such as party hopping.