Katelyn's Blog : September 2026

12 September 2026

Parliament Malaysia Open Day 2026 (12/9/2026)

Have you ever wondered of what is it like to be in Parliament (besides watching the Members of Parliament) debating? Would it be great to walk into the doors of that iconic building where all the rules are made into place?

In conjunction with Parliament Malaysia's 67th anniversary, after three long years the doors of Parliament Malaysia is opened to the public over the weekend to have a glimpse inside. I asked a former colleague who has visited Parliament a few times during working period, he said: "You can find it very interesting, a historical building. I think you will enjoy the visit," That made me even looking forward to visiting the Parliament even more!

I did research on the dress code on what to wear and what not to wear. Since Parliament Malaysia is a formal place, I might as well dressed in something decent. Around 10.15am, I arrived at the parking lot and the staffs on the ground were very kind to help out to the visitors upon entry. Thanks to Xin Qi, she sent me a registry form while I was on the way - when I arrived I just showed I have completed the registry form.

We will be given a wristband and a "passport" - inside it has a map for us to navigate through the building throughout the visit. Along the way in, there's the iconic building of the Parliament - which we see on television when the newscaster says: "Now, let's have a quick segment of what's happening at Parliament (我们来看一组国会热报)!" The segment will be panned to that building.

The passport with the iconic building as the backdrop.

Xin Qi and I to have a selfie outside of the building too. We made our way inside the building, and surprisingly I saw a familiar face - William, my singing buddy from Bodhi Buddhist Fellowship Malaysia (BBFM)! "William, hi!" I greeted him. "Hey Katelyn, what a coincidence!" and I introduced him to Xin Qi. I got a quick interview by the people from Jabatan Penerangan Malaysia (JAPEN), I got a free gift after the interview which was another surprise.

We were at the end of the path and there was no ramp for my stroller to get down, so I had to get up and step down from the pavement, we were lucky that members of the public helped us - that's the spirit of the Malaysian community. We saw some young people had a go at the traditional game of bulu tangkis. When we were inside of the building, what a way to cool down from the heat outside.

First off, we headed to the library to check out the archives from past till present. I read one from the 1910s which talked about the free English education in the country and excerpt of Melaka's (my home state) state seating in 2014 (less than a year after the 2013 general election). After I have done the archives from the 1910s, I passed it to the visitors who were browsing through the same section.

Reading an archive from the 1910s (credit: Xin Qi).

We headed back to the main hall where we first entered, a display of the Hukum Kanun Melaka - I remembered reading one of these in History classes in my secondary school days. It was out for us again to check out where the Member of Parliament have their regular debates. It was on the other side of the building, we took a lift up to the second floor, then we realised it was on the first floor. The second floor is the Parliament Gallery - it showed the uniforms of the Speakers and what would MPs wear during the opening session of Parliament.

The white wig displayed reminded me of the ones I have seen in the UK during their own Parliament opening session (fun fact: Malaysia is a Commonwealth country, gained Independence from the UK on 31 August 1957). As times gone by, we have seen the MPs wearing the white uniforms on the first day of Parliament opening - that's when the King of Malysia - Yang di-Pertuan Agong will give an address to the MPs. There was a miniature setting of the Dewan Rakyat.

The lift couldn't go to the first floor, we had to take the stairs down to it. Once we reached at the bottom of the staircase, there's the iconic corridor - where the MPs would hangout or do a press conference. When we looked up, it has pictures of past and present of monarchs, Prime Ministers and Speakers of the Dewan Rakyat.

We also dropped by the Jabatan Kemajuan Orang Asli's (JAKOA) booth to see the arts and crafts displayed and I heard a lot of in my days at my former organisation. We also learned a new word of the Orang Asli language - cacak (which means eat).

We headed into the Dewan Rakyat - this is the place where the MPs will have their debates throughout Parliament sessions. On regular days, the public is not allowed to bring any phones or cameras in but for this opening session is an exception.

Inside of the Dewan Rakyat with the coats of honour from each state.

It reminded me of the time during my Model United Nations (MUN) days when I played MPs on few occasions - From YB Tuan Tony Pua (former MP of Damansara & political secretary to former Finance Minister - YB Tuan Lim Guan Eng) to YB Puan Hannah Yeoh (current MP of Segambut & Federal Territory Minister), it was great fun!

There it was the corridor of the Dewan Rakyat - there was a long line of people taking because there was a photobooth set up, we decided to skip the line and looked elsewhere has the Parliament sign. We found a couple of them.

This says about my personality (credit: Xin Qi).

Xin Qi at another sign

The Sidang Media (Press Conference area) which was also a hotspot for a photo taking. We bumped into Scouts team, and its Scouts leader has a good hand of photography - he should get his photography batch for that! The Scouts team's motto "Always be prepared" - I have a family history of Scouts and Girl Guides.

Back to playing MP for a day. Any questions?

We went to Dewan Negara - that's the place where the law has to pass through before handing to the Yang di-Pertuan to have His Majesty's seal off approval. I didn't go in because it has a lot of steps inside but I just waited for Xin Qi to have a quick tour inside and the air conditioning was really cold! Freezing!

The visit ended with games at the Youth and Sports Ministry tent, after the games, we got to choose any freebies at hand. Xin Qi and I chose the badges - it will come in handy for any special occasions in future. Before exiting, we filled up the checkout form to mark the completion of the visit. We bumped into William again and took a quick photo to mark this special day.