The Road (Slightly) Ahead : Four Bills To Look Forward To
01 April 2022
The First Meeting of the Fifth Session of the Fourteenth Parliament concluded when the meeting of the Dewan Negara (Senate) was adjourned on 31 March 2022. The Dewan Rakyat (House of Representatives) had adjourned a week earlier on 24 March 2022.
The second and third readings of twelve Bills that were presented to the Dewan Rakyat were deferred to the next meeting of Parliament, namely:
- National Forestry (Amendment) Bill 2022
- Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Amendment) Bill 2021
- Offenders Compulsory Attendance (Amendment) Bill 2021
- Anti-Sexual Harassment Bill 2021
- Malaysian Border Security Agency (Dissolution) Bill 2021
- Poisons (Amendment) Bill 2022
- Control of Padi and Rice (Amendment) Bill 2022
- East Coast Economic Region Development Council (Amendment) Bill 2022
- Independent Police Conduct Commission Bill 2020
- Trade Unions (Amendment) Bill 2022
- Employees’ Social Security (Amendment) Bill 2022
- Employment Insurance System (Amendment) Bill 2022.
Apart from the above-referred Bills, comments by various Ministers / Ministries indicate that four interesting pieces of legislation will be presented to Parliament in the near future. A brief note on each of these are set out below.
- The Anti-Party Hopping Law – the much anticipated law to discourage Members of Parliament from defecting from one political party to another after being elected did not see the light of day at the last meeting of Parliament. Nevertheless, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law), Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, has informed the Dewan Rakyat that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Ismail Yaakob, had agreed that this Bill be tabled at a special sitting of the Dewan Rakyat to be held on 11 April 2022.1 Based on the most recent communiqué issued by the Minister, the new law will also cover instances where a Member of Parliament is expelled from his political party or leaves his party to become an independent member, and where an independent member joins a political party after being elected.2
- Generational Endgame – the proposed law seeks to ban smoking for people born in 2005 or thereafter. According to the Minister of Health, Khairy Jamaluddin, the Bill is being finalised by the Attorney’s General Chambers and could be tabled during the July 2022 meeting of Parliament.3 The Health Minister had first announced this proposal in January 2022.4 A similar initiative – reported to be the first in the world - was announced by the New Zealand Government in 2021.5
- Buy Now Pay Later – the Deputy Finance Minister II, Yamani Hafez Musa, announced in Parliament that a Consumer Credit Act which seeks to regulate and monitor “buy now, pay later” schemes will be tabled in Parliament later this year.6 The Deputy Minister reiterated the earlier comments by the Finance Minister, Tengku Datuk Seri Utama Zafrul bin Tengku Abdul Aziz, that the Bill is being formulated by Bank Negara Malaysia and the Securities Commission Malaysia in consultation with the relevant ministries7 that will strengthen the regulatory framework for all consumer credit activities, including providers of buy now, pay later schemes.
- Residential Tenancies Act – after more than three years of extensive consultations and engagements with industry stakeholders, the Ministry of Housing and Local Government (in collaboration with IIUM Entrepreneurship & Consultancies Sdn Bhd) issued the Regulatory Impact Statement on the Proposed Research and Drafting of the Residential Tenancies Act early this year. The Regulatory Impact Statement recommends that a Residential Tenancies Act be enacted to regulate residential tenancies. The proposed Act will only apply to Peninsular Malaysia and will introduce many changes that affect the relationship between the parties to residential tenancy agreements, such as mandatory standard terms, the placement of security deposits with a neutral agency, and provisions that regulate increase of rent and repossession of rented premises. According to the Regulatory Impact Statement, the Bill will be tabled before Parliament in July 2022 and will come into force in August 2023. Our comments on some of the salient features of the proposed Act can be read here.
Each of the four Bills that we highlighted will be a game changer in its respective area if they are passed. In particular, it is hoped that the proposed Anti-Party Hopping Law will be a well-considered piece of legislation that will receive support from both sides of the political divide and effectively address a malaise that has plagued Malaysian politics for many years, especially in recent times.
Article by Kok Chee Kheong (Partner) and Amanda Swee Lin Hollow (Associate) of the Corporate Practice of Skrine.
1 Wan Junaidi: Special sitting on April 11 to table anti-party hopping bill, The Star Online, 24 March 2022.
2 Sacked MPs to lose seats too, The Star, 31 March 2022.
3 Bill on smoking ban to be tabled in Parliament in July, says Khairy, The Star Online, 26 March 2022.
4 Khairy: Proposal to ban the sale of smoking products to those born after 2005 in the works, The Star Online, 27 January 2022.
5 New Zealand to ban cigarette sales for future generations, The Star Online, 9 December 2021.
6 Protecting the consumer – Buy now, pay later’ schemes to be regulated, says Yamani,
The Star, 16 March 2022.
7 Paragraph 191, Finance Minister’s 2021 Malaysia Budget Speech, 6 November 2020.
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