YESTERDAY, our MPs returned to the Dewan Rakyat for the 3rd meeting of the 14th Parliament, which will last 26 days. They have a full plate before them.
The question is, can they rise to the occasion and work in unison to take care of this country?
Or will they be up to their old tricks, transforming the Dewan Rakyat into a circus, resorting to name-calling, unbecoming language and the usual one-upmanship?
As we all know by now, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong had reminded the MPs (at least three times) to stop politicking and put their heads together to ensure the continued safety of this country.
Since that heavy task requires a huge amount of money, the king had urged them to work together to ensure the nation gets a sound budget for next year.
The budget is expected to be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat on Friday.
A Malay daily quoted Dr Chandra Muzaffar as saying the political situation today is one of "uncertainty" due to several factors.
Despite the king's repeated advice to the politicians, he is worried that a substantial number of them may choose not to heed the royal plea. When asked by reporters how we should proceed, he recommended the setting up of a consultative mechanism between the government and the opposition.
Echoing what others have said in recent weeks, Chandra also foresees a "bigger role" for the Malaysian constitutional monarch. I agree.
For professor Datuk Dr Shad Saleem Faruqi, the recent call by the king for a "political ceasefire" could possibly lead to bipartisan support for the 2021 Budget.
He added that "the lack of a budget may justify the argument for a state of emergency".
Health systems and policies specialist Dr Khor Swee Kheng is hopeful that the budget will have provisions to "strengthen the country's vaccination programmes".
Datuk Mohamad Ashfar Ali (president of the Pan Malaysian Bus Operators Association) wants the budget to ensure the "continuity of stage, express, tour and factory bus operations".
He told reporters that his association had submitted a proposal to the Finance Ministry to ensure "the sustainability of their operations, which had largely been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic".
In late September, Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz told reporters that the government is "committed to helping small and medium-sized enterprises continue in their post-Covid-19 recovery", and providing continued support for digitalisation and automation.
A month later in late October he expressed hope that the budget would herald economic recovery.
A World Bank portal stated recently that the Covid-19 pandemic would add as many as 150 million to the ranks of the extreme poor by 2021.
World Bank Group president, David Malpass, said that in order "to reverse this serious setback to development progress and poverty reduction", countries affected by the pandemic "must prepare for a different economy post-Covid".
In early October, an Asian news portal stated that between 1.5 and 2.4 million more Malaysians could fall into poverty by 2021.
This would be in addition to the 405,000 households already living below the poverty line.
Aggravating the problem, unemployment in Malaysia had increased to 5.3 per cent in May, the highest in three decades (since 1989).
Another news portal revealed the worsening gender inequality in society. The report stated that in the second quarter of 2020 after Malaysia's lockdown, the women unemployment rate stood at 5.5 per cent compared with 4.7 per cent for men.
The report added that as the tourism and hospitality, accommodation, health and education, and other sectors (where women's employment is concentrated) recovered slower than other sectors of the economy, these gender gaps in unemployment would widen.
A concrete plan for economic recovery and a lasting lifeline for our poor — these two should be the focus of our politicians in the coming weeks.
Not who gets what post.
The writer, a former federal counsel at the Attorney-General's Chambers, is deputy chairman of the Kuala Lumpur Foundation to Criminalise War
