Keadilan has called upon the government to allow the Speaker of the Parliament to be elected from among all members of the House, instead of being appointed by the ruling party.

The party's secretary-general, Sahri Bahri, said the current procedure where the speaker is appointed by Umno or Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad made the position "not neutral".

"We are concerned about the conduct of the Speaker. How can [speakers] be fair and neutral to the opposition members of Parliament when they are appointed by Mahathir?" he told malaysiakini today.

Sahri said Keadilan had made this resolution following the experiences gained in the first parliamentary sitting this year which begins tomorrow.

He said Malaysians wanted to see the dignity and powers of Parliament restored and that it should not function merely as a law-making body or a rubber stamp.

"Our representatives in Parliament will raise the issue concerning the appointing of the Speaker," he said, adding that the resolution was reached at Keadilan's Negeri Sembilan convention yesterday.

AG, too

Keadilan is currently on a nation-wide tour starting with similar conventions in Sabah and Johor recently.

The end of the one-day convention in Negeri Sembilan also saw participants endorsing a resolution urging the government to allow Parliament to appoint the attorney-general.

Currently, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong appoints the AG on the advice of the prime minister.

The opposition claims that present AG Abdul Gani Patail is unsuitable for his post as he was the lead prosecutor in former deputy prime minister's Anwar Ibrahim's controversial sodomy trial.

Anwar is now serving a nine-year jail sentence for sodomy and a further six-year term for corruption.