SHAH ALAM (Bernama): The opening ceremony of the First Meeting of the Fourth Session of the 14th Selangor State Legislative Assembly next Monday (Aug 23) will be held briefly and in strict compliance with the standard operating procedures (SOPs).

       Selangor State Assembly Speaker Ng Suee Lim said the attendance for the ceremony was limited to around 150 people compared to 500 during the usual sitting to avoid having too many people gathering in one place.

       He said the Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, had consented to grace the opening ceremony and His Royal Highness would be accompanied by the Raja Muda of Selangor Tengku Amir Shah.

       "There will be no parade and inspection of the Guard of Honour by the Sultan of Selangor,” Ng said in a news conference here on Friday (Aug 20).

       As a safety measure, a Covid-19 screening was being held for two days starting yesterday for all quarters who would be present at the ceremony, he added.

       Ng said each state assemblyman had also been provided with five Covid-19 self-test kits for screening purposes during the state assembly sitting until Sept 6 and hoped that they could do the test once every two or three days.

       Meanwhile, he said among the motions to be brought forth was to amend the Standing Order of the Legislative Assembly of Selangor 1995 to include a new clause saying that in times of unforeseen circumstances or disaster, the Speaker will be vested with powers to hold a virtual or hybrid sitting, if necessary.

       "Currently, there is no such clause in the Standing Order. If the motion is passed, we will submit it to the Standing Order Committee to be reviewed before it is tabled again at the next sitting,” he said.

       Ng said Selangor was the first state to table the motion to amend the Standing Order to enable the state assembly sitting to be held in a hybrid or virtual manner. - Bernama