Whips agree to April 3, 4 showdown between govt, opposition

The agreement on the timeframe for the debate under provision of Article 152 of the Constitution was reached at 3pm Wednesday as whips from both sides of the aisle met.

The meeting followed after the five opposition parties jointly sponsored a motion, which was submitted to House Speaker Wan Muhamad Noor Matha on Wednesday morning, to call for the debate.

The motion alleged that the government had failed during the past six months to deliver what it had promised citizens during the election campaign and in its policy statement.

Both whips agreed for the April 3 debate to take place at 9am and end at 1pm, then resume at 9am on April 4 until 11pm.

Opposition MPs would be given 22 hours to question the government while the government would be given six hours to respond. The meeting chairs would be assigned two hours to moderate possible disputes during the debate.

Also on Wednesday, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, who was making an official trip to Berlin, Germany, said he is confident that he and his Cabinet members would be able to clarify all the questions to be raised by the opposition.

During the Wednesday meeting, the whips also tentatively agreed on a schedule to deliberate the second and third readings of the fiscal 2024 budget bill.

They agreed to readings on March 20, 21 and 22. But when they informed Wan Noor, the speaker wanted to postpone the last day of deliberation March 22 to March 25, as a deputy speaker would be busy with an official trip abroad on March 22.

Wan Noor told the whips he would announce the final dates for the second and third readings of the budget bill at a future date.