Their appeal follows a dialogue session with law and institutional reform minister Azalina Othman Said, during which concerns were raised about gaps and weaknesses in the bill’s legal framework.

In a joint statement, Bersih, IDEAS, Refsa, Projek SAMA, and Rasuah Busters urged Azalina and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to publicly commit to specific improvements in their parliamentary speeches today and tomorrow.

The improvements include a transparent appointment process for parliamentary service members, bipartisan representation on the parliamentary service council, and mandatory annual reporting.

“If the prime minister and the law minister are unable to make these clarifications and commitments on record, it is entirely appropriate and necessary for MPs to push for the bill to be referred to a parliamentary select committee,” they said.

They said that a select committee would allow lawmakers to correct gaps and weaknesses in the bill, and incorporate other desired amendments.

The groups also urged all 222 MPs to pass the accompanying constitutional amendment that would formalise the positions and tenures of the Dewan Rakyat and Dewan Negara secretaries.

According to today’s order paper, the constitutional amendment bill will be tabled for a second reading and debated, followed by the Parliamentary Services Bill 2025.

The Parliamentary Services Bill had come under fire, including from former law minister Zaid Ibrahim who called it poorly drafted, and G25 which said it failed to address or improve on the shortcomings of the 1963 version.