00:00What are your plans as the chair of IPAR this year, and what is your vision for IPAR this year?
00:07First of all, we are glad that we are again the President of the IPAR, meaning to say
00:19that I'll be leading all the discussion among all the 10 Member Countries as far as Parliament
00:25is concerned. And of course, the Secretariat is very active. IPAR Secretariat is stationed
00:34in Jakarta, led by a very able lady from Brunei. She's an architect by qualification. So we
00:46really communicate with each other what's going on. And IPAR itself has a couple of
00:51meetings that is, quote-unquote, monetary, has to go on through. And of course, the highlight
00:58will be the General Assembly that will happen in September, probably middle of September
01:06in Kuala Lumpur. And there are also other meetings prior to that, which is like the
01:14Women's Parliamentarian, Youth Parliamentarian, then issues like drug issues, and some other
01:22issues. But this time around, our strategy was to spread all the meeting places, not
01:29in KL alone. But the General Assembly, of course, will be held in Kuala Lumpur. But
01:35for Women's Parliamentarian meeting, that will be done by Occupy Earth. But this time
01:44around, it will be hosted by the State Assembly of Sarawak, in Kuching. That will happen in
01:53April 18, I think, or 19. And then on drug issues, that will happen in Pekan, in Kuantan.
02:08And youth will happen in Selangor, and the rest are in KL. So, six of these meetings
02:16we spread out, so that the participants who come from all the member countries would feel
02:24different places, and seeing different places, see the beautiful of Malaysia. Pahaw will
02:31be different from Selangor, Selangor will be different from Kuching, and that kind.
02:34I think probably for the first time, we do that.
02:37The last ten years, when we were the president of APOI, it was held in Kota Kinabalu, just
02:46one place, where Pendekak Amin was then the Speaker. But this year, I decided to spread
02:53it out, so that not only the states in Malaysia would benefit from there, because people come
03:01and see how it's assessed. Certainly they will assess the development of the state,
03:06see the beauty of it. Then probably when they go back, they campaign, come to the state
03:11of Pang, where Durian is, Luslan King is. Or they can go to Kuching, where the beauty
03:20is, Orangutan, and beautiful island behind you there. Or, they can come to Selangor.
03:31So that's the whole idea.
03:33How were the preparations so far this year?
03:37Thank God. My staff, we had a special team, headed by the Ketua Petak Abeh. Of course,
03:49we get assistance from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and other ministries, other ministries.
03:56From time to time, we have been preparing this since last year. Financially, physical
04:03preparation, plus location and venues of the meeting, staffing, volunteers. We really have
04:11the details, that's considered done. I personally went around all the member countries, to meet
04:21with the speaker of each country, and hand the invitation letter personally to them.
04:29Has never been done before, only this time around. So that, very personalised, it was
04:34very personalised. Everybody is excited to come down to KL, and to see, we made a lot
04:42of difference as compared to some other, probably organised by some other countries. Because
04:48I want to show that, we are a bit different, we are a bit different.
04:54PM has also called for Malaysian reps to share more views in IPAR, and all that stuff.
05:01So how can IPAR facilitate this route around?
05:05Well, IPAR is, you are talking about, these are among the parliamentarians. We are not
05:14the executive. At executive level, they have what they call a summit. IPAR is about inter-parliamentary
05:23assembly. So, meaning to say, how do we get together, propose, and discuss, and push the
05:34opinion from the legislature to the executive. So, this is very important to us. Of course,
05:43if you are to compare from one country to another, the political differences there,
05:51of course, the whole structure is different. Probably Vietnam and Cambodia, Vietnam and
05:58Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia, I mean, there are a lot of differences between us. But at
06:03the end of the day, it's about, there's about two separate entities altogether. Number one,
06:10it's about legislature, those who are in parliament and making policies and laws. But the other
06:17one is about executive, who implement the laws, and who run the whole entire country.
06:24So how do you transmit the thinking, the ideas, and all that, of the legislature to the executive?
06:33That needs a lot of discussion. Some countries, well, do it differently. But certainly, we
06:43follow the Westminster system, whereby certain structure is there, that has to be followed.
06:52I think most of the speakers understand, and so far, things are doing okay, because among
06:59the discussion that we had, the relationship between the legislature and the executive,
07:05okay. Of course, we will not interfere into whatever happens in their country, but consensusly,
07:15this is a way forward.
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