Reply sparks shouting match
The Star (16/5/08): “Soalan bocor!” shouted an MP in the Dewan Rakyat when Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Amirsham Abdul Aziz read out a prepared text during Question and Answer time on Thursday.
“That is not the right answer!”
Opposition MPs were quick to create a stir when they realised that Amirsham was reading from two pages of text in reply to Khairy Jamaluddin's (BN – Rembau) supplementary oral question.
While it is normal for a minister to read from a prepared text for an original question, it is not so for a supplementary question as it is asked on the spot.
Khairy’s original question touched on whether the Government was planning to change existing policies which were based on the New Economic Policy (NEP) , especially those related to assisting bumiputras, in reaction to the Opposition’s call to reject the policy.
After Amirsham answered from a prepared text, Khairy then asked him what he thought about Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s statement that the NEP breeds corruption.
“Does he mean that every poor Malaysian regardless of their race, the millions of students, bumiputra professionals like the minister are all cronies and corrupted?” he asked.
To this, a visibly upset Amirsham said he felt that such a statement was inaccurate.
“His conclusion also means that everyone who gained from the NEP are actually cronies and corrupted,” he said before he was interrupted by shouts from the Opposition MPs when they saw that Amirsham was reading from a prepared text.
“The answer has been prepared!” said Lim Kit Siang (DAP – Ipoh Timor).
This prompted other Opposition MPs to join in the fray, with Chong Eng (DAP – Bukit Mertajam) calling it a “planted question” and Khalid Abdul Samad (PAS – Shah Alam) shouting that “the question was leaked!”
When Mohd Azmin Ali (PKR – Gombak) stood up to submit his next question, he said: “This House is like a market because the market chairman is Rembau.”
Deputy Speaker Datuk Ronald Kiandee told Azmin to stop the remark after Khairy protested.
“That is not the right answer!”
Opposition MPs were quick to create a stir when they realised that Amirsham was reading from two pages of text in reply to Khairy Jamaluddin's (BN – Rembau) supplementary oral question.
While it is normal for a minister to read from a prepared text for an original question, it is not so for a supplementary question as it is asked on the spot.
Khairy’s original question touched on whether the Government was planning to change existing policies which were based on the New Economic Policy (NEP) , especially those related to assisting bumiputras, in reaction to the Opposition’s call to reject the policy.
After Amirsham answered from a prepared text, Khairy then asked him what he thought about Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s statement that the NEP breeds corruption.
“Does he mean that every poor Malaysian regardless of their race, the millions of students, bumiputra professionals like the minister are all cronies and corrupted?” he asked.
To this, a visibly upset Amirsham said he felt that such a statement was inaccurate.
“His conclusion also means that everyone who gained from the NEP are actually cronies and corrupted,” he said before he was interrupted by shouts from the Opposition MPs when they saw that Amirsham was reading from a prepared text.
“The answer has been prepared!” said Lim Kit Siang (DAP – Ipoh Timor).
This prompted other Opposition MPs to join in the fray, with Chong Eng (DAP – Bukit Mertajam) calling it a “planted question” and Khalid Abdul Samad (PAS – Shah Alam) shouting that “the question was leaked!”
When Mohd Azmin Ali (PKR – Gombak) stood up to submit his next question, he said: “This House is like a market because the market chairman is Rembau.”
Deputy Speaker Datuk Ronald Kiandee told Azmin to stop the remark after Khairy protested.
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