Strengthening Parliament’s Kamar Khas (Special Chamber)

On behalf of MITI, I was at Parliament’s Kamar Khas (special chamber) to reply to a speech by YB Hassan Karim, MP for Pasir Gudang.

When I was first elected as an MP in 2008, I found that the speeches by parliamentarians in the main chamber often took up too much time to deliberate on local matters, which are definitely crucial to the particular MPs and their constituents, but could have been dealt with through another mechanism, without taking up precious time in the chamber.

Back in those days, daily parliament sittings tended to run until late night and sometimes even midnight to deal with matters listed in the Standing Orders of the Meeting (AUM).

There was then a mechanism called “adjournment speech” that allowed for two speeches on specific issues at the end of each sitting day, with replies by the ministers. Yet when sittings ended after midnights, the adjournment speeches were such a chore for all who were involved. Hardly anyone would stay back to listen to the adjournment speeches.

For MPs to raise specific issues while the main chamber proceeds with national agenda, the Australian and British Parliaments created an alternative chamber for some of parliament’s business to be deliberated there. The alternative chamber in Australia is known as the “Federation Chamber” and in the United Kingdom, “Westminster Hall debates”.

An opportunity came in 2016 when the then Speaker of Dewan Rakyat Tan Sri Pandikar Amin was having disagreements with the Executive and felt frustrated with the Executive’s dismissive attitude towards the Parliament. One of his reform proposals was to take this up and create an alternative chamber for issues to be raised by MPs and to be replied by ministers.

Initially, the Kamar Khas was rather restrictive with two speeches each day. It has now become more flexible and also allows for supplementary questions to be asked by MPs to ministers for further clarification.

Interestingly, the current Speaker also delegates the role of chairing the Kamar Khas to MPs from both government and opposition parties, giving them a chance to act on behalf of the Speaker. For example, the Kamar Khas session I spoke at was chaired by Padang Besar MP Rushdan Rusmi.

Running into its 9th year, I hope when we celebrate the first decade of Kamar Khas on 16 May 2026, we will see further strengthening of its role and even more debate time allocated for Kamar Khas. This would allow more time in the Main Chamber to be used for national issues while MPs have ample time to debate about various issues relevant to their constituencies at the Kamar Khas.

Parliament is an evolving institution. While over the past 17 years in parliament, I at times felt that Parliament moved at a glacial pace, I am glad that we could still enact changes nonetheless.

With the current government, the Parliamentary Service Act is finally attempted and will be tabled during this sitting, which will hopefully give the Parliament even more leverage and standing within the broader system.