Sequencing and standards: Indranee on role of Leader of the House

Maintaining order, ensuring rules are observed among responsibilities

- Ng Wei Kai

The role of the Leader of the House in maintaining order and upholding parliamentary privilege might have come to the fore in the previous term of Parliament, but to Ms Indranee Rajah a good part of the job can be distilled into one word: sequencing.

This is as proper sequencing—whether of parliamentary questions (PQs), Bills, or motions—is crucial to the work of Parliament, which in a nutshell is about public accountability, she said in an interview with The Straits Times on July 4.

Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced on June 20 that he had designated Ms Indranee as Leader of the House.

This means Ms Indranee will be in her second term as Leader when the 15th Parliament convenes for its first sitting on Sept 5.

Ms Indranee noted that events may occur which spark public concern and require an urgent explanation from the authorities the next time Parliament is in session.

Parliament typically sits once a month, for two or three days.

Given that the first 90 minutes of each sitting are reserved for answering PQs and there may be close to 100 such questions filed by MPs, more pressing questions have to be prioritised, so that ministers can answer them and MPs can seek further clarifications, said Ms Indranee, who is Minister in the Prime Minister's Office.

The same is true for Parliament's legislative function of deciding policies and making law, where the Leader's role is to determine which Bills should be debated and passed ahead of others, she added.