Dewan Rakyat Malaysia

Dewan Rakyat ialah dewan rendah (Lower House) di dalam parlimen dwidewan (Bicameral), badan perundangan (legislatif) Persekutuan Malaysia. Dewan dan kuasanya ditubuhkan berdasarkan Perkara 44 Perlembagaan Malaysia. Dewan Rakyat bertempat di Bangunan Parlimen Malaysia di Kuala Lumpur, bersama-sama dengan Dewan Negara (Upper House). Ahli Dewan Rakyat atau Ahli Parlimen dipilih melalui sistem Pilihan raya yang dijalankan setiap lima tahun atau Dewan Rakyat dibubarkan atas perkenan Ke Bawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong berdasarkan Perkara 55 Perlembagaan Persekutuan. Setakat ini dewan ini mempunyai seramai 222 ahli.
Dewan Rakyat merupakan sebuah badan yang dipilih secara langsung terdiri daripada 222 ahli yang dikenali sebagai Ahli Parlimen (MP). Ahli-ahli dipilih melalui pengundian lepas pertama dengan seorang ahli dari setiap kawasan pilihan raya persekutuan. Ahli-ahli memegang kerusi mereka sehingga Dewan Rakyat dibubarkan, yang tempohnya dari segi perlembagaan dihadkan kepada lima tahun selepas pilihan raya. Bilangan kerusi setiap negeri atau wilayah yang berhak adalah ditetapkan oleh Perkara 46 Perlembagaan.
Walaupun persetujuan kedua-dua dewan Parlimen lazimnya diperlukan untuk perundangan digubal, Dewan Rakyat memegang lebih banyak kuasa secara praktikal; Dewan Negara sangat jarang menolak rang undang-undang yang telah diluluskan oleh Dewan Rakyat dan Dewan Rakyat boleh memintas Dewan Negara jika ia enggan meluluskan undang-undang tertentu dua kali, dengan sekurang-kurangnya satu tahun di antaranya. Kabinet bertanggungjawab sepenuhnya kepada Dewan Rakyat, dan perdana menteri hanya perlu mengekalkan sokongan dewan rakyat. Usul tidak percaya terhadap perdana menteri..
Ahli dirujuk sebagai "Ahli Parlimen" ("Ahli Parlimen") atau "Ahli Dewan Rakyat" (lit. ahli Dewan Rakyat) dalam bahasa Melayu. Tempoh jawatan adalah selagi ahli itu menang dalam pilihan raya.
Seorang ahli Dewan Rakyat mestilah berumur sekurang-kurangnya 21 tahun dan tidak boleh menjadi ahli Dewan Negara secara serentak. Pengerusi Dewan Rakyat ialah Speaker, yang dipilih pada awal setiap Parlimen atau selepas pemberhentian jawatan, oleh Ahli Parlimen. Dua Timbalan Speaker juga dipilih, dan salah seorang daripada mereka duduk menggantikan Speaker apabila beliau tidak hadir. Jentera Dewan Rakyat diselia oleh Kerani Dewan yang dilantik oleh Raja; dia hanya boleh dipecat daripada jawatan melalui cara yang ditetapkan untuk hakim atau dengan persaraan mandatori pada umur 60 tahun.
Sehingga pilihan raya umum 2018, Dewan Rakyat mempunyai 222 ahli yang dipilih. Ahli dipilih dari kawasan pilihan raya persekutuan yang diundi oleh Suruhanjaya Pilihan Raya. Sempadan kawasan pilihan raya dilukis semula setiap sepuluh tahun berdasarkan bancian terkini.
Setiap Dewan Rakyat berlangsung selama maksimum lima tahun, selepas itu pilihan raya umum mesti diadakan. Pada pilihan raya umum, pengundi memilih calon untuk mewakili kawasan mereka di Dewan Rakyat. Sistem pengundian first-past-the-post digunakan; calon yang mendapat undi terbanyak memenangi kerusi itu.
Sebelum pilihan raya umum boleh diadakan, Raja perlu membubarkan Parlimen terlebih dahulu atas nasihat Perdana Menteri. Mengikut Perlembagaan, Yang di-Pertuan Agong mempunyai hak mengikut budi bicaranya sendiri sama ada memberikan atau menahan perkenan untuk membubarkan parlimen.
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Parliament is the legislative branch of the federal government and is responsible for passing, amending and repealing primary legislation. These are known as Acts of Parliament.
Members of Parliament possess parliamentary privilege and are permitted to speak on any subject without fear of censure outside Parliament; the only body that can censure an MP is the House Committee of Privileges. Immunity is effective from the moment a member of Parliament is sworn in, and only applies when that member has the floor; it does not apply to statements made outside the House. An exception is made by the Sedition Act passed by Parliament in the wake of the 13 May racial riots in 1969. Under the Act, all public discussion of repealing certain Articles of the Constitution dealing with Bumiputra privileges such as Article 153 is illegal. This prohibition is extended to all members of both houses of Parliament. Members of Parliament are also forbidden from criticising the King and judges.
The executive government, comprising the Prime Minister and his Cabinet, is usually drawn from members of Parliament; most of its members are typically members of the Dewan Rakyat. After a general election or the resignation or death of a Prime Minister, the King selects the Prime Minister, who is the head of government but constitutionally subordinate to him, from the Dewan Rakyat. In practice, this is usually the leader of the largest party in Parliament. The Prime Minister then submits a list containing the names of members of his Cabinet, who will then be appointed as Ministers by the King. Members of the Cabinet must also be members of Parliament. If the Prime Minister loses the confidence of the Dewan Rakyat, whether by losing a no-confidence vote or failing to pass a budget, he must either advise the King to dissolve Parliament and hold a general election or submit his resignation to the King. The King has the discretion to grant or withhold consent to the dissolution. If consent is withheld, the government must resign and the King would appoint a new Prime Minister that has the support of the majority of members of Parliament. The Cabinet formulates government policy and drafts bills, meeting in private. Its members must accept "collective responsibility" for the decisions the Cabinet makes, even if some members disagree with it; if they do not wish to be held responsible for Cabinet decisions, they must resign. Although the Constitution makes no provision for it, there is also a Deputy Prime Minister, who is the de facto successor of the Prime Minister should he die or be otherwise incapacitated.
A proposed act of law begins its life when a particular government minister or ministry prepares a first draft with the assistance of the Attorney-General's Department. The draft, known as a bill, is then discussed by the Cabinet. If it is agreed to submit it to Parliament, the bill is distributed to all MPs. It then goes through three readings before the Dewan Rakyat. The first reading is where the minister or his deputy submits it to Parliament. At the second reading, the bill is discussed and debated by MPs. At the third reading, the minister or his deputy formally submit it to a vote for approval. A simple majority is usually required to pass the bill, but in certain cases, such as amendments to the constitution, a two-thirds majority is required. Should the bill pass, it is sent to the Dewan Negara, where the three readings are carried out again. The Dewan Negara may choose not to pass the bill, but this only delays its passage by a month, or in some cases, a year; once this period expires, the bill is considered to have been passed by the house.
If the bill passes, it is presented to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong who has 30 days to consider the bill. Should he disagree with it, he returns it to Parliament with a list of suggested amendments. Parliament must then reconsider the bill and its proposed amendments and return it to the King within 30 days if they pass it again. The King then has another 30 days to give the royal assent; otherwise, it passes into law. The law does not take effect until it is published in the Government Gazette.
The government attempts to maintain top secrecy regarding bills debated; MPs generally receive copies of bills only a few days before they are debated, and newspapers are rarely provided with copies of the bills before they are debated. In some cases, such as a 1968 amendment to the Constitution, an MP may be presented with a bill to be debated on the same day it is tabled, and all three readings may be carried out that day itself. In rare circumstances, the government may release a White paper containing particular proposals that will eventually be incorporated into a bill; this has been done for legislation such as the Universities and University Colleges Act.
Although the process above assumes only the government can propose bills, there also exists a process for private member's bills. However, unlike most other legislatures following the Westminster system, few members of Parliament actually introduce bills. To present a private member's bill, the member in question must seek the leave of the House in question to debate the bill before it is moved. Originally, it was allowed to debate the bill in the process of seeking leave, but this process was discontinued by an amendment to the Standing Orders of the Dewan Rakyat. It is also possible for members of the Dewan Negara to initiate bills; however, only cabinet ministers are permitted to move finance-related bills, which must be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat.
It is often alleged that legislation proposed by the opposition parties, which must naturally be in the form of a private member's bill, is not seriously considered by Parliament. Some have gone as far as to claim that the rights of members of Parliament to debate proposed bills have been severely curtailed by incidents such as an amendment of the Standing Orders that permitted the Speaker to amend written copies of MPs' speeches before they were made. Nevertheless, it is admitted by some of these critics that "government officials often face sharp questioning in Parliament, although this is not always reported in detail in the press."