Charter amendment bills seeking to revise the 2017 constitution section-by-section will be examined by parliament in mid-January, says parliament president Wan Muhamad Noor Matha.
Currently, there are 17 proposals seeking to revise the charter section-by-section and another bill, sponsored by the opposition People's Party, seeking to amend Section 256 of the charter to pave the way for a charter-drafting assembly (CDA), he said.
Now that the parliament president's legal committee has recommended the PP-sponsored bill be on parliament's agenda, Mr Wan said he is looking to include the bill along with the others for scrutiny on Jan 14-15.
He said he would hold talks with the government, opposition and Senate whips on Jan 8 to discuss which amendment bill would be considered first.
On Monday, PP list-MP Parit Wacharasindhu claimed the party-proposed bill paving the way for forming a CDA would be put before parliament soon.
He described the move as crucial as it would shorten the charter-rewrite process, with the proposed amendment seeing two referendums instead of three and a new charter potentially produced before the next general election.
The opposition party maintains two referendums are sufficient for the proposed charter rewrite and would not be in violation of a recent Constitutional Court ruling.
In 2021, the court ruled the public must approve any move to amend the entire charter, and if that first referendum is approved, another must be held to see if people approve of the new content.
Asked about the possibility of holding just two referendums, Mr Wan stressed that no matter how many rounds are held, the charter rewrite still needs a third of the Senate's support.
He said putting the bills on parliament's agenda does not guarantee their passage and he is unsure if the Constitutional Court's ruling would be sought again to address the referendum issue.
"But if the charter proposals aren't included on the agenda, people will regret the lack of progress," he said.
Earlier, Mr Wan said the bills seeking to amend the charter section-by-section would not contradict the Constitutional Court's 2021 ruling because they don't target the entire charter.