Kota Kinabalu: Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul urged every State Assembly Speaker to interact with students at higher learning institutions.
He said this was among new initiatives stemmed from the recent Conference of Speakers of Parliament and State Legislative Assemblies of Malaysia held in Kuching, Sarawak.
This effort aims to enhance students’ understanding of the State Legislative Assemblies’ roles and functions, making these legislative bodies more accessible to the public.
The aim is to encourage students to understand the role and function of the State Legislative Assembly in an effort to make the legislative institution more accessible to the people.
“We are revitalising the speaker’s role to align with current trends. People want more transparency in legislative processes and seek active participation.
“We also agreed that speakers should spare some time to visit Higher Learning Institutions or host students from these institutions. This interaction will allow these young people who will be our future leaders to engage with the speaker’s institution and view it as a learning opportunity,” he said.
“For example, the Sabah Speaker has extensive experience as a legal practitioner, a long-serving senator, and now as Speaker. I think all this experience needs to be shared with students, and we hope they will also become good leaders in the future,” he added.
Johari said this to the media after visiting the Sabah State Assembly as part of the Speaker of the House of Representatives’ tour to State Legislative Assemblies nationwide.
Elaborating further, Johari said the visit was aimed at sharing ideas, experiences, and knowledge with the Sabah State Assembly.
“In addition, there’s also sharing of information and knowledge. Some states are far more advanced. I see here in Sabah how the computers and tablets supplied to assembly members are much better than in other states, including in Parliament,” he said.
“So, Parliament will certainly learn from the sophistication in Sabah, and these are the ways we work so that ultimately the goal we achieve is one: how to combine our experience and knowledge to achieve the same purpose, which is to provide the best service to the people,” he said.
He was accompanied by Sabah Speaker Datuk Seri Kadzim M Yahya, Deputy Speaker Datuk Richard Yong Ke Wong, and Secretary, Rafidah Maqbool Rahman, during the tour of the assembly facilities.
