KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 30): The early resumption of Parliament next Monday (Oct 3) will see all eyes fixed on the tabling of the Supply (Budget) Bill 2023 or Budget 2023 on Friday, three weeks earlier than originally scheduled.

The rare move of bringing forward the upcoming Budget — last done in 1999 — raised heated speculation about the general election to be called soon. The polls must be held before Sept 14, 2023, as the dissolution of Parliament — if not called for earlier by the King — will automatically happen on July 16, 2023.

The upcoming Parliamentary session, the last sitting this year, will take place from Oct 3 to Nov 29, as opposed to the initial schedule of Oct 25 to Dec 15.

Alongside the Budget, The Edge looks at several interesting Bills that may potentially be debated in the upcoming session.

The 2023 Supply Bill is scheduled for first reading next Wednesday (Oct 5), two days before the tabling of its second reading on Friday. (The first reading is mostly seen as just a formality when only the title of the Bill is read out in Dewan Rakyat.)

The Budget will then need to be passed by MPs in the third reading and subsequently by the Dewan Negara. Should Parliament be dissolved before that, the Budget will need to be re-tabled. The new government may choose to re-table the same draft Bill to the House.

The first time Parliament was dissolved prior to Budget approval was on Oct 29, 1999, when the then Finance Minister Tun Daim Zainuddin tabled the 2000 Budget. The Parliament was dissolved soon after the tabling, followed by a snap election exactly one month later on Nov 29.

Before proceeding with a full-year Budget, the new government then tabled a “mini” Budget with provisions for two to three months of government expenditures. Daim then tabled the 2000 Budget again in the Dewan Rakyat on Feb 29, 2000.

The government is expected to table the Political Funding Bill on political contributions for first reading in early November, and the second reading in late November.

The initiative to regulate political donations was mooted by the government in 2015. A proposed framework was submitted to the Parliament in 2019, but did not get the go-ahead.

On Aug 5 this year, the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Political Financing on Aug 5 released the complete Bill on Political Financing. However, the government was still seeking feedback on the Bill as on Sept 28.

The proposed legislation seeks to regulate public and private funding of political parties, and to set penalties for any contravention in a bid to make the process of financing politics more transparent and accountable.  

Among others, the Bill proposes a donation cap per financial year of RM50,000 from individual donors, RM100,000 from companies, and RM500,000 from groups of companies.

The Bill prohibits government-linked companies (GLCs), Federal/State statutory bodies (FSBs) and certain foundations from making political contributions. Foreign donations by governments or agencies to political parties are also not allowed.

The Control of Tobacco Product and Smoking Bill 2022, also known as the “Generational End Game” (GEG) Bill, will prohibit the sale and use of any form of smoking material including electronic cigarettes or vaping to individuals born from Jan 1, 2007.

It also outlined provisions for the registration of products and for the control of advertising, promotion and sponsorship, among others.

Critics argue that the Bill limits freedom of choice as well as privacy invasion, and the Bill is being referred to the Parliamentary Special Select Committee (PSSC) for further review. The PSSC comprised 12 MPs from government and opposition blocs to study several amendments, with Khairy himself chairing it.

For background, the Renewable Energy Act 2011 (Act 725) provides for the establishment and implementation of a special tariff system to catalyse the generation of renewable energy.

Meanwhile, the SEDA Act 2011 (Act 726) provides for the establishment of the Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA), whose mandate includes advising the government on sustainable energy matters and implementing sustainable energy laws.

These two Bills — Renewable Energy (Amendment) Bill 2022 and Sustainable Energy Development Authority (Amendment) Bill 2022 — seek to introduce a new subsection to “empower the Minister to suspend the operation of the whole or any of the provisions” of the Acts.

The amendment will provide a legal avenue to enable a smooth transfer of electricity supply autonomy to the State of Sabah, in accordance with the State's negotiations with the Federal government under the Malaysia Agreement 1963.

The Trade Unions (Amendment) Bill 2022 seeks to amend the Trade Unions Act 1959 (Act 262) by removing restrictions on their formation based on establishment, trade similarities, occupation or industry. The amendments will also allow more than one union to be formed in a single workplace.

It was drafted in line with the principles of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 87 on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise.

The move would allow trade unions to be more open and diverse. Others argue the multiplicity of unions beats its purpose of uniting workers under one banner, and risks unions being used as a political tool.