{{Infobox legislation
, short_title = Parliamentary Services Act 1963
, legislature =
, image =
, imagesize =
, imagealt =
, caption =
, long_title = An Act to provide for the qualifications for appointment and conditions of service of members of the staff of House of Parliament.
, citation = Act 394
, territorial_extent =
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
, considered_by =
, enacted_by = Dewan Ra'ayat
, date_enacted =
, date_passed = 12 March 1963
, enacted_by2 =
Dewan Negara
The Dewan Negara (English language, English: Senate; Literal translation, lit. "State Council") is the upper house of the Parliament of Malaysia, consisting of 70 senators of whom 26 are elected by the State legislative assemblies of Malaysia, ...
Tunku Abdul Rahman
Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj ibni Almarhum Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah ( ms, تونكو عبد الرحمن ڤوترا الحاج ابن سلطان عبد الحميد حليم شاه, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset; 8 Febru ...
,
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
, 1st_reading 11 March 1963 , 2nd_reading 12 March 1963
, 3rd_reading 12 March 1963 , conf_committee_passed =
, committee_report =
, bill2 = Parliamentary Services Bill 1963
, bill_citation2 =
, bill_date2 =
, introduced_by2 =
Tunku Abdul Rahman
Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj ibni Almarhum Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah ( ms, تونكو عبد الرحمن ڤوترا الحاج ابن سلطان عبد الحميد حليم شاه, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset; 8 Febru ...
,
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
, 1st_reading2 15 March 1963 , 2nd_reading2 15 March 1963 , 3rd_reading2 15 March 1963 , conf_committee_passed2 =
, committee_report2 =
, date_conf_committee =
, white_paper =
, amendments =
, repeals = Constitution (Amendment) Act 1992 'Act A837'', related_legislation =
, summary =
, keywords =
, status = Repealed
The Parliamentary Services Act 1963 ( ms, Akta Perkhidmatan Parlimen 1963, abbreviated PSA) was an act providing for the
Parliament of Malaysia
The Parliament of Malaysia ( ms, Parlimen Malaysia) is the national legislature of Malaysia, based on the Westminster system. The bicameral parliament consists of the Dewan Rakyat (House of Representatives, Literal translation, lit. "People's A ...
to conduct its own administration, staffing and financing. The act was repealed in 1992 after the then
Speaker
Speaker may refer to:
Society and politics
* Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly
* Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture
* A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially:
** I ...
of the
Dewan Rakyat
The Dewan Rakyat (English: 'House of Representatives'; ) is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament, the federal legislature of Malaysia. The chamber and its powers are established by Article 44 of the Constitution of Malaysia. The Dewan Ra ...
(the lower house of Parliament), Zahir Ismail unilaterally had it removed from the books.
However, a majority of Members of Parliament (MPs) called for the act to be revived in October 2005, when the issue of
separation of powers
Separation of powers refers to the division of a state's government into branches, each with separate, independent powers and responsibilities, so that the powers of one branch are not in conflict with those of the other branches. The typic ...
was ignited in the Dewan Rakyat by opposition leader
Lim Kit Siang
Lim Kit Siang (; born 20 February 1941) is a Malaysian politician. He is the longest-serving leader of the opposition in Malaysia, having held the position for a total of 29 years on three separate occasions. He is also former Secretary-Genera ...
of the
Democratic Action Party
The Democratic Action Party (abbreviation: DAP; ms, Parti Tindakan Demokratik; ; ta, ஜனநாயக செயல் கட்சி) is a Centre-left politics, centre-left social democracy, social democratic political party in Malaysia. ...
(DAP). Earlier, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in charge of parliamentary affairs,
Nazri Aziz
Dato’ Seri Mohamed Nazri bin Abdul Aziz ( Jawi: محمد نظري بن عبدالعزيز; born 15 May 1954) is a Malaysian politician who served as the Minister of Tourism and Culture, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in charge ...
had announced the setting up of the post of Head of Administration for Parliament and (varyingly) a Department or Office of Parliament, to handle affairs such as maintenance and assistance for MPs. One MP from the ruling
Barisan Nasional
The National Front ( ms, Barisan Nasional; abbrev: BN) is a political coalition of Malaysia that was founded in 1973 as a coalition of centre-right and right-wing political parties. It is also the third largest political coalition with 30 se ...
coalition exasperatedly decried the amount of
red tape
Red tape is an idiom referring to regulations or conformity to formal rules or standards which are claimed to be excessive, rigid or redundant, or to bureaucracy claimed to hinder or prevent action or decision-making. It is usually applied to g ...
required for MPs to hire research assistants, and another stated he was forced to use online
website
A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google Search, Google, Facebook, Amaz ...
s such as
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a multilingual free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and using a wiki-based editing system. Wikipedia is the largest and most-read refer ...
for his research.
However, the MPs agreed that the post of Head of Administration for Parliament was unnecessary interference in Parliament's financial affairs, and asked for the restoration of the Parliamentary Services Act so Parliament could run its own affairs independent of the government. Since 1992, government agencies such as the Public Services Department and Treasury had been staffing and maintaining Parliament, as the parliamentary service advisory committee had been disbanded in the wake of the act's repeal.
Nazri insisted that the PSA would have to pass muster through both the Dewan Rakyat and
Dewan Negara
The Dewan Negara (English language, English: Senate; Literal translation, lit. "State Council") is the upper house of the Parliament of Malaysia, consisting of 70 senators of whom 26 are elected by the State legislative assemblies of Malaysia, ...
(upper house of Parliament; also referred to as the Senate) House Committees before it could come to a vote in Parliament itself. This angered the MPs, and
Shahrir Abdul Samad
Shahrir bin Abdul Samad ( Jawi: شهریار بن عبدالصمد; born 22 November 1949) is a Malaysian politician who was the Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (2008-2009), a Member of Parliament of Malaysia and the former c ...
, the chairman of the Barisan Nasional Back-Benchers Club (BNBBC) called for all MPs in favour of immediately restoring the PSA to rise. A vast majority of MPs present rose, with some notable exceptions such as Nazri and Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar, who had campaigned for the act's repeal in 1992.
Some were skeptical of how much effect reviving the act would have on Parliamentary independence; Nazri argued he couldn't "see any less independence among MPs in the last 13 years without the PSA", and constitutional scholar
Shad Saleem Faruqi
Professor Emeritus Datuk Dr Shad Saleem Faruqi is a Malaysian legal scholar and professor of law at the University of Malaya, currently holding the Tunku Abdul Rahman Chair as Professor of Constitutional Law. He is also the fourth holder of the T ...
called it a "merely symbolic gesture". Shahrir himself reportedly acknowledged the PSA's repeal had not made a serious impact on Parliamentary independence.
Structure
The Parliamentary Services Act 1963 was consisted of 8 sections.
References
*Ahmad, Abdul Razak (Oct. 23, 2005). "Fighting to get the House in order". ''
New Straits Times
The ''New Straits Times'' is an English-language newspaper published in Malaysia. It is Malaysia's oldest newspaper still in print (though not the first), having been founded as ''The Straits Times'' on 15 July 1845. It was relaunched as the ' ...
Berita Harian
''BH'' (renamed on 2 July 2012; formerly known as ''Berita Harian'') is a Malay-language daily newspaper published in Malaysia owned by the New Straits Times Press. It was first published on 1 July 1957 as the first mainstream newspaper in M ...