Wong, who heads the committee on international trade and international relations, said the resources allocated to the committees presently are “really, really embarrassing”.

He said Indonesia allocated each of its parliamentary committees RM10 million this year to cover operational expenses.

“Some of their committees even have their own buildings. I’m not joking. They (each) have about 50 staff on average,” he told FMT in an interview.

Indonesia has 11 parliamentary committees responsible for drafting, amending and debating legislation in their respective policy areas.

Their Malaysian counterparts, however, are required to operate on a shared budget, along with two officers each and working spaces.

“(Even) a small roti canai shop has more workers (than the committee I lead),” he said in jest.

He said his international trade and international relations committee only receives around RM120,000 to spend in a year and suggested that a reasonable allocation for each committee would be in the region of RM2 million annually.

“We’re not even trying to replicate Indonesia. Theoretically, their gross domestic product per capita is much smaller than ours.

“Primarily, we need more staff, more researchers to write reports, to advise on research, to hold meetings and then about a quarter of the budget we would like to set aside for cheap travel,” he added.

Last month, Paya Besar MP Shahar Abdullah requested that the government allocate RM2 million per year for each of the 10 parliamentary select committees.

He said the current RM2 million collective budget was insufficient for each committee to do its work properly.

In the 2025 budget, RM180 million has been allocated to parliamentary services, up from RM168 million the previous year. However, it is unclear how much of this sum will filter down to the select committees.