Secretary of the House of Representatives of Malaysia

The Secretary of the House of Representatives of Malaysia (Malay: Setiausaha Dewan Rakyat; Chinese: 馬來西亞國會下議院秘書; Tamil: மலேசிய நாடாளுமன்றத்தின் பொது மன்றத்தின் செயலாளர்) SUDR is the chief clerk of the House of Representatives of Malaysia.

Secretary of the House of Representatives of Malaysia Setiausaha Dewan Rakyat
Incumbent Nizam Mydin Bacha Mydin since 14 May 2020
House of Representatives of Malaysia
Member of	Parliament of Malaysia
Reports to	Speaker of the House of Representatives of Malaysia
Seat	Malaysian Houses of Parliament, Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Appointer	King of Malaysia
Constituting instrument	Constitution of Malaysia
Formation	11 September 1959
First holder	C. A. Fredericks
Website	www.parlimen.gov.my

Constitutional basis

The office of Secretary of the House of Representatives of Malaysia is established under Article 65 of the Constitution of Malaysia, which establishes the SUDR together with that of Secretary of the Senate of Malaysia (SUDN) as may be appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King of Malaysia).[1]

Clause (5) of Article 65 provides that the SUDR cannot be an individual elected as either a Member of Parliament (MP) or a Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA).[1] Clause (2) of Article 65 sets out for the office-bearer to hold office only until he or she attains the age of 60.[1] Article 125 stipulated that any removal of the SUDR outside of the incumbent's voluntary resignation can only be executed following the decision made by a tribunal appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong having received the advice to do so from the Prime Minister of Malaysia.[1]

Roles

The Secretary of the House of Representatives is responsible for the proceedings of the House and assists the Speaker on matters regarding the House during these proceedings.

The duties also include sending out notices for commencement of meetings, collecting proposals, articles, Order Paper, votes and written enquiries from Members of the House and producing verbatim reports of proceedings.

List of Secretaries of the House of Representatives (1959–present)

Parliament	No.	Office bearer	Term of office		Duration	Speaker
1st 1959–1964	1	C. A. Fredericks AMN	1959	1964	4–5 years	Mohamed Noah Omar
2nd 1964–1969	2	Tan Sri Sheikh Abdullah Sheikh Abu Bakar PSM JMN PPM	1964	1965	0–1 year	Syed Esa Alwee
						Chik Mohamed Yusuf Sheikh Abdul Rahman
	3	Haji Shamsuddin Mohamed Sidin AMN	1965	1967	1–2 years
	4	Jaafar Mohd. Taha	1967	1969	1–2 years
3rd 1971–1974	5	Dato' Ahmad Abdullah DPMJ	1969	1972	2–3 years
	6	Dato' Azizul Rahman Abdul Aziz DPMP JMN SMP	1972	1988	15–16 years
4th 1974–1978						Nik Ahmad Kamil Nik Mahmood
5th 1978–1982						Syed Nasir Ismail
6th 1982–1986						Mohamed Zahir Ismail
7th 1986–1990
	7	Dato' Wan Zahir Sheikh Abdul Rahman DPMP JSM	1988	1993	4–5 years
8th 1990–1995
	8	Datuk Haji Abdul Rahman Ali PSD DPMT	1993	1998	4–5 years
9th 1995–1999
	9	Datuk Mohd. Salleh Hassan JSD AMN	1998	6 January 2004	5–6 years
10th 1999–2004
11th 2004–2008	10	Datuk Abdullah Abdul Wahab PJN DPSJ KMN AMN PPN	7 January 2004	15 August 2006	2 years, 7 months
						Ramli Ngah Talib
	11	Tan Sri Dato' Sri Mahmood Adam PSM PNBS SSAP DMSM JSM KMN AMN	11 September 2006	20 December 2007	1 year, 3 months
	12	Datuk Roosme Hamzah PMW KMN AMN	26 December 2007	22 February 2020	12 years, 1 month
12th 2008–2013						Pandikar Amin Mulia
13th 2013–2018						Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof
14th 2018–Incumbent
	13	Riduan Rahmat AMN	22 February 2020	13 May 2020	2 months
	14	Nizam Mydin Bacha Mydin	14 May 2020	Incumbent	8 months

[2]

Controversy

In mid-May 2020, Riduan Rahmat's removal as SUDR led to an uproar especially amongst opposition lawmakers who challenged the constitutionality of his removal.[3][4] He was re-assigned as the management division secretary of the Dewan Negara (Senate of Malaysia) which is one-rung lower in seniority than that of the SUDR.[5][6] This was despite Rahmat being the senior-most parliamentary service servant having served since 1989.[7] According to Articles 65 (3) and 125 (3) of the Constitution of Malaysia respectively, the SUDR can only be removed from office by a tribunal appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.[3] Speculation was rife that Rahmat's removal was triggered by allegations that he was attempting to not reveal the motion of no confidence filed by former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad against the incumbent Muhyiddin Muhammad Yassin.[8] Following his controversial dismissal, Rahmat leaves as having the shortest tenure as SUDR.[9] Subsequently, the National Alliance (PN) governing coalition that wrested power from the Alliance of Hope (PH) in the 2020 Malaysian constitutional crisis removed the no-confidence vote from the agenda and altered the parliament sitting to consist of only the speech by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.[10][11]

See also

• Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat

References

1. "Constitution of Malaysia 1957". commonlii.org. CommonLII. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
2. "SECRETARY OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES". www.parlimen.gov.my. Retrieved 25 October 2019.
3. Povera, Adib (14 May 2020). "Was removal of Dewan Rakyat secretary constitutional, asks Liew". New Straits Times. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
4. Yee, Kee Hui (15 May 2020). "Is replacement of Dewan Rakyat secretary constitutional?". The Malaysian Insight. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
5. Razak, Radzi (14 May 2020). "Dewan Rakyat Secretary replaced over 'no-confidence' motion fiasco". Malay Mail. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
6. "Dewan Rakyat gets new secretary". Free Malaysia Today. 14 May 2020. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
7. Liew, Chin Tong (17 May 2020). "Parliament decapitated out of Muhyiddin's fear — Liew Chin Tong". Malay Mail. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
8. Kaur, Kirat (14 May 2020). "Dewan Rakyat Secretary Replaced, Allegedly Over No-Confidence Motion Against PM". The Rakyat Post. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
9. Lim, Kit Siang (16 May 2020). "MP SPEAKS Immediately reinstate Riduan as Dewan Rakyat secretary". Malaysiakini. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
10. "Parliament secretary replaced after change in agenda for one-day sitting". Malaysiakini. 14 May 2020. Retrieved 29 May 2020.
11. Chan, Kok Leong (13 May 2020). "No go for Dr Mahathir's motion as PM limits Parliament to royal address". The Malaysian Insight. Retrieved 29 May 2020.