Higher fines ‘not unreasonable’ | The Star

PETALING JAYA: The proposed higher fines for lawmakers who utter unparliamentary remarks are not unreasonable, says former Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof (pic).

“It’s about time the fines are increased. RM10,000 is a fair sum. RM1,000 is way too low and has not been much of a deterrent in the past.

“I believe the fine will be imposed after a hearing before the Committee of Rights and Privileges for serious cases of contempt of the House,” he said.

Asked if the RM1,000 fine was imposed during his tenure, Mohamad Ariff said it did not happen as a case was still being heard at the time of his departure in July 2020.

“No, not during my time. There was one case still being heard by the committee when I was removed. So we did not get to the stage of imposing the RM1,000 fine if the MP was found liable,” he said.

However, Pendang MP Datuk Awang Hashim was opposed to the idea.

“The Speaker already has enough rules in place to penalise MPs. This is an attempt to silence MPs,” said the Perikatan Nasional lawmaker.

Pakatan Harapan’s Subang MP Wong Chen said the proposal to increase the fines was a good move.

“I think it is a good start as this is a process that will develop and evolve. If after six months of implementation, we find the quantum to be insufficient and not effective, we can and should increase it. It is also important to start at a lower quantum as we are also evolving on what constitutes unparliamentary behaviour,” said the PKR politician.

He said in this day and age, sexism should not be tolerated at all.

“But what about mild swearing or gestures in the heat of debate?

“What about a walkout when a minister speaks? What about the Opposition Leader not attending the Prime Minister Question Time or the Finance Minister not attending the Budget Reply of the Opposition Leader?,” he added.

However, he said the fine must be weighed in the context of MPs’ salaries

“With allowances, the take home pay of an MP is RM25,000 but after party contributions and tax, it is net around RM20,000. So, a RM10,000 fine or half the take home pay is relatively substantial.

“However, we also need to take into account the assets of MPs. An MP who is a multi-millionaire may not worry about a RM10,000 fine but an MP with RM100,000 in assets may feel the quantum to be too high,” he said.

On the matter of assets, he said Parliament must make it mandatory for all MPs to declare assets to combat corruption.

Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul said on Friday that a maximum fine of up to RM10,000 was being considered for MPs who resorted to uncouth remarks during parliamentary sittings.