Section 18
Petitions
of State Legislative Assembly Standing Orders
(1)
A Petition may only be presented to the Assembly at the time appointed by
Standing Order No. 13 (Order of Business) by a Member, who shall affix his name at the beginning thereof.
(2)
A Member presenting a Petition shall confine himself to a brief statement of the parties from whom it comes the number or signatures attached to it and the material allegations contained in it and to reading the prayer of the Petition.
(3)
It shall be competent for any Member to move that any Petition be not received on the ground that it does not comply with the requirements of this Order and if such motion be carried the Petition shall not be received. Such a motion may be moved without notice.
(4)
Petitions shall be ordered to lie upon the Table without question put. Every such
Petition shall stand referred to the Standing Committee, unless it is a Petition against a private or hybrid bill in which case it shall stand referred to the Select
Committee on the bill.
(5)
When any Petition stands referred to a Select Committee all person whose individual rights or interests are peculiarly affected by any proposed action or
Ordinance to which the Petition relates may be heard by the Committee either in person or at the discretion of the Committee, by Counsel.
(6)
No Petition shall be presented to the Assembly unless it shall have been submitted to the Clerk at least two clear days before the sitting and has been endorsed by the Clerk as being in accordance with the provisions of the following rules:-
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(a)
Every Petition offered to be presented to the Assembly shall begin with the words “To the Honourable the Members of the Legislative Assembly,
Sabah, in meeting assembled;” or with words equivalent thereto.
(b)
Every Petition shall contain a prayer at the end thereof setting forth the general object of the Petition or the nature of the relief asked for.
(c)
Every Petition shall be printed or typewritten.
(d)
Every Petition shall be signed by at least one person on the sheet or sheets on which the Petition is written. Every Petition shall be signed on the last sheet. One or more of the persons signing on the last sheet shall also sign at the bottom of every other sheet on which the Petition is written, the signature or signatures on each such sheet being the same.
(e)
Every signature shall be written upon the sheets bearing or attached to the Petition itself, and not pasted upon or otherwise attached or transferred thereto.
Amended LA 8/77
(f)
If signatures are affixed to more than one sheet, the prayer of the Petition shall be repeated at the head of one side of each sheet; but on every sheet after the first, the prayer may be reproduced in print or by other mechanical process.
Signatures upon sheets not so headed will not be counted, but signatures may be written on etiher side of any sheet, including that on which the Petition itself is written.
(g)
Every Petition shall be written in Bahasa Malaysia or in English language.
(h)
Every Petition shall be signed by the parties whose names are appended thereto by their names or by their marks which are dully authenticated, and by no one else.
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(i)
The Petition of a corporation shall be under its common seal which shall be duly authenticated.
(j)
The address of every person signing a Petition or making his mark thereon shall follow his signature or mark, failing which the signature or mark will not be counted; nor will signatures which appears to be in the same handwriting.
(k)
No letters, affidavits, or other documents, may be attached to any Petition.
(l)
No erasures or interlineations may be made in any Petition.
(m)
Every Petition shall be respectful, decorous, and temperate in its language.
(n)
No reference may be made to any Debate in the Assembly or to any intended motion unless notice of such motion stands upon the Order Paper.
(o)
No Petition may ask for a grant of public money or the release of a debt to the public funds.
QUESTIONS TO MINISTERS AND OTHER MEMBERS