Malaysian lawmakers will have their plates full in the new parliamentary session that started yes-terday, with the five-month-old Pakatan Harapan (PH) government tabling its first Budget on Nov 2 and planning to reverse some of the previous administration's policies.
First up is Thursday's midterm review of the 11th Malaysia Plan, a five-year economic blueprint.
"In this current session, with all the dust of the elections finally settled, all eyes will be on which (aspects) of the legislative agenda the PH government will prioritise," said analyst Amir Fareed Rahim of political consultancy KRA Group.
"There is a long list of legislation which will be debated, but most of the attention will likely be on the fiscal policy direction of the government. Key milestones on this front include the 11th Malaysia Plan mid-term review by the Prime Minister and the tabling of the 2019 Budget."
Unlike the first parliamentary session, held between July 17 and Aug 16, when the public was still in a honeymoon period with PH lawmakers, the four-party coalition must now get down to serious business amid complaints that prices of goods and services have not come down, concerns about the global economy slowing down, and the high debt level left behind by the previous Barisan Nasional government.
Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng has said that Malaysians must brace themselves for "pain and sacrifice" in the new Budget as the government tries to cut RM1 trillion (S$330 billion) in debt and liabilities.
Cabinet ministers are understood to be debating behind closed doors over how much government expenditure can be slashed without hurting the Malaysian economy.
It is understood that the government's Economic Planning Unit is forecasting 4.8 per cent, 5 per cent and 5.2 per cent growth, respectively, for the years 2018 to 2020. This would be lower than the 5.9 per cent achieved last year.
PH lawmakers will also be moving to fulfil some of the election promises in the current sitting.
These include a motion to abolish the death penalty, a decision that may prove controversial in Muslim-majority Malaysia, which has long given drug offenders and convicted killers the mandatory death sentence. The death penalty is to be replaced with a jail term of at least 30 years, de facto Law Minister Liew Vui Keong said on the first day of Parliament yesterday.
The government is also expected to table a Bill for MPs to declare their assets, and debate Malaysia's new foreign policy. Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York last month, touched on Palestine, Myanmar's Rohingya issue and the global trade war.
Debate will likely be heated on the abolition of the death penalty, among others, noted Mr Amir.
"Given the higher-quality debate in the last sitting of Parliament compared with when Barisan Nasional was in government, we can expect more heated and intense debate in the House as the Pakatan Harapan government policy direction takes shape," he said.
