Swearing-in ceremony first in new complex

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MEETING THE PRESS: Asfia, flanked by Supian (on his right) and Pele attends to questions from the press.

KUCHING: The swearing-in ceremony of members of the new State Legislative Assembly on June 20 will be the first one to be held at the new Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) here.

The historic ceremony will see all the 71 elected representatives taking their oath before DUN speaker Dato Sri Mohamad Asfia Awang Nassar on the first day of the sitting.

Confirming that the first meeting (of the first session) of the 17th DUN sitting would run from June 20 to 29, Asfia stated that the ceremony would take place at the new DUN chamber itself as part of the legislative assembly  proceedings.

“I am very honoured to have the 71 elected representatives taking their oath before me,” he told a press conference at the media centre of the new complex at Petra Jaya near here yesterday.

He met the press after chairing a briefing session with the 22 newly elected DUN members. Also present were newly elected DUN secretary Supian Tarmizi Mohd Tazuddin and deputy secretary Pele Peter Tinggom.

Head of State Tun Datuk Patinggi Abang Muhammad Salahuddin would grace the opening meeting of the first session on Tuesday, June 21, followed by a state banquet in the evening hosted by Salahuddin himself. There would not be any sitting in the afternoon.

The third day would start off with a ‘question and answer’ session followed by tabling of bills. The following two days (Thursday-Friday) would see the continuation of the question and answer session and debate on the Head of State’s address.

The final three days from Monday (June 27) would see the winding-up speeches from the state cabinet ministers.

In addition, Asfia highlighted that there would not be any motion tabled in this sitting as no motions nor questions have been received.

Touching on the earlier briefing session, he explained that the meeting was held to explain to the new members matters such as allowances, entitlements, pensions, gratuities and other benefits. Secondly, it was to let the new members understand the operation and administration of the DUN office while getting to know its personnel.

The sitting would also see the debut of 22 newly elected members.

From the 71 elected representatives, 55 are from the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) government with 35 from Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), eight from Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and six each from Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) and Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP).

The assembly would see 15 elected members from the opposition comprising  Democratic Action Party (DAP) with 12 members and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) with three members, and one independent.

Meanwhile, Asfia clarified that the new sitting would not see the largest number of opposition members, as the largest ever assembled in DUN was in 1987, when the opposition made up 20 out of the 48 DUN members.

“The opposition members comprised 15 Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) and five Permas elected representatives. That represented a total of 41.6 per cent of the composition in the DUN,” he pointed out.