In the Parliament of Malaysia, the political parties appoint party whips to ensure party discipline, help manage legislative business and carry out a variety of other functions on behalf of the party leadership. The most important function of a government party whip is to ensure that sufficient number of members and senators are present to take part in voting in the chamber, to maintain a parliamentary quorum and to prevent censure motions succeeding.[1] Their roles in the chamber include taking divisions, and arranging pairs which affect the ability of members and senators to leave parliament during sittings, as well as the entitlement to be absent during divisions.
In practice, Malaysian whips play a lesser role than their counterparts in the United Kingdom, as party discipline in Malaysia is heavily controlled; parliamentary votes are fully in tandem with the official positions of the various political parties. The role of the whip becomes more critical the lower the majority the government has in the lower house of Parliament (Dewan Rakyat).
Party whips also exist in the thirteen state legislative assemblies of Malaysia.
- ^ Parliamentary Education Office. Fact Sheet 36: The Party Whip Archived 24 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine.