Greenhorn Amirsham answers amid taunts

The Edge Daily (16/5/08): New kid on the block Datuk Amirsham A Aziz, minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, had to dodge a slew of jibes yesterday after he was spotted reading the answer to a supplementary question in parliament.

The former Maybank chief, a greenhorn in the august house, was treated to heckling by the opposition MPs as he was answering the first supplementary question on the New Economic Policy (NEP) posed by Khairy Jamaluddin (Rembau–BN) from what appeared to be a prepared text.

All hell broke loose when Lim Kit Siang (Ipoh Timur–DAP) said the answer to the supplementary question was already prepared.

“Planted question. The answer is all ready,” shouted Chong Eng (Bukit Mertajam–DAP), while shouts of “Crony! Crony!” were heard in the background.

“Siap jawapan sampai dua muka! (The answer was so prepared it runs to two pages!),” said Mahfuz Omar (Pokok Sena-PAS).

Although the MPs pounced on him mercilessly, they all had smiles on their faces. And, to his credit, Amirsham didn’t waiver but continued to read his answer.

Deputy Speaker Ronald Kiandee tried to calm the house but to no avail.

Khairy had asked Amirsham on the remark by Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng (Bagan-DAP) who vowed to abolish the use of the National Economic Policy in the state administration because “it breeds corruption, cronyism and systemic efficiency” .

“Is it fair for Lim to make a general conclusion that people who benefit from the NEP, regardless of race, millions of students and bumiputera professionals like yourself — a product of the policy and became the CEO of the biggest bank in Malaysia — as if we are all cronies and corrupt?” Khairy asked.

Amirsham, in his answer, said he found Lim’s statement inaccurate and that Lim did not understand the objective of the NEP.

“If that is his conclusion, then anyone who got assistance from it whether in loans, job opportunities, scholarships, entrepreneurship opportunities and others are cronies and corrupt,” he said and proceeded to provide figures while the ruckus continued.

He concluded that the NEP was generally a fair and good policy that had evolved with the country’s development.

Amirsham said the government had no plans to change the policies that evolved from the basic spirit of the NEP into the National Development Policy, the National Vision Policy and the National Mission under the Ninth Malaysia Plan.

“The policies are not only aimed at raising the socio-economic status of the bumiputeras but also the Indians, Orang Asli and minorities in Sabah and Sarawak,” he said.

He said the government would continue with its commitment to implement the basic NEP strategies of poverty eradication regardless of race, and restructure the society to eradicate ethnic identification through economic function.

“If the objectives are realised, especially with a fairer distribution of wealth between and within ethnic groups, between states, and in urban and rural areas, it will speed up our efforts to ensure balanced participation amongst all levels of society,” Amirsham said.

He also said that based on the National Mission, the government had agreed to extend the timeline for realising several objectives of the distribution policy, such as eradication of poverty and achieving 30% bumiputera equity by 2020.

Prof Dr P Ramasamy (Batu Kawan–DAP) was allowed to ask the second supplementary question on whether the NEP had diverged from the original principle behind the affirmative action, which was meant to benefit the minority instead of majority as was practised in Malaysia.

“Affirmative action is to help the people who are left behind like the poor and the lower income community. That is the NEP’s aim and its policies are to help overcome and reduce poverty as well as to give equal opportunities to all Malaysians,” Amirsham replied without any reference to text.

The ruckus continued when the deputy speaker called for Mohamed Azmin Ali (Gombak-PKR) to raise his question to the minister in the question-and-answer session. However, Datuk Seri Panglima Abdul Ghapur Salleh (Kalabakan-BN) called for a Point-of-Order in Standing Order 44, asking the Speaker to take control of the situation.

“This is like a market, Speaker! People watch us on television! Can we ask for control?” he said, to which Kiandee assured him that the house was under control.

Azmin who had the floor then took a potshot at Khairy. He said: “Dewan jadi pasar sebab Rembau pengerusi pasar (The House turn into a market because Rembau MP is a market chief)!”

At this point Khairy stood and called for Point-of-Order on Rule 36 (character assassination) and asked for Azmin to retract his statement. Peace descended when Kiandee asked Azmin to ask his question.

Khairy who was met at the parliament lobby later denied that his supplementary question was planted. “It is not planted. It is a supplementary question. The minister is a very intelligent man. He was the CEO of Maybank. I am sure he had anticipated what would be the supplementary question. Maybe he was looking at the facts and statistics in front of him.

“For me what is more important is substance. It was clear that the opposition was causing trouble because they were afraid of substance,” he said.

Related: Amirsham: Straight man but something is suspicious (A Voice)