Some 'isms' to brighten up the day
Malay Mail (25/6/08): Proceedings in the House yesterday were mostly overshadowed by what was happening outside at the lobby or, rather, what was not happening (see accompanying analysis), but Members were unfazed at Question Time since the cameras were rolling anyway.
Khairy Jamaluddin (BNRembau), fresh from his scrape the day before, rose on a question of corruption to rail against the Selangor government.
“Lord Acton said power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” he began. “My question is: What is the result of the Anti-Corruption Agency’s (ACA) investigation into the corruption scandal involving the Selangor Menteri Besar? “Is this good governance? And what makes matters worse is the fact that the officer being investigated was suspended for two months yesterday, and has since resigned because he has no faith in the Menteri Besar.” Amidst thumping on the government benches, the words “ECM Libra” and “Avenue Capital ” issued from somewhere in the vicinity of Datuk Ibrahim Ali (Ind-Pasir Mas) and rang throughout the House.
(In 2005, Khairy was involved in a controversial merger of financial houses ECM Libra Capital Bhd and Avenue Capital Resources Bhd a government- linked company - but was cleared of any wrongdoing by the Public Accounts Committee on Aug 10 last year. On Aug 12, Khairy disposed of his interest in ECM Libra, but his name is still frequently mentioned in connection with that issue.) Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim (PKR-Bandar Tun Razak) was present in the House yesterday but responded to Khairy’s attack with a shrug, probably for the better since he has proven himself barely capable of stuttering his speeches in the House.
Khairy then had to give way to Datuk Seri Mohd Nazri Aziz (BN-Padang Rengas) who provided a perfunctory answer on behalf of the Prime Minister that proved to be of no account.
Things livened up considerably, however, when Khalid Abd Samad (Pas-Shah Alam) rose on a point of order after Question Time ended.
Referring to his speech the previous day, in which Khalid said Petronas was being subsidised by the people, the first term parliamentarian reported that he had since been censured by Information Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek (BNKemaman).
“The minister says that I made a traitorous statement.
In my speech yesterday (debating his brother’s motion on the price increases) it appears that my proposals were interpreted as an attempt to betray our national interests and to hand over our natural resources to foreign oil companies.
“This is a ‘tipuisme’ and ‘keliruisme’ (‘cheatism’ and ‘confusionism’).
‘Isms’ championed by the Barisan Nasional,” he declared, ridiculing the pseudo-intellectual habit of adding “isms” to every other word.
Barisan members, to their credit, began shouting wildly and matters went swiftly out of control despite Deputy Speaker Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Ja’afar’s impassioned speech, just moments before, for better Parliamentary standards.
Once order resumed, the House settled to debate various sleep-inducing Bills (the most interesting one, dealing with revisions to judicial pensions, was postponed).
At lunch, however, MPs became disconcerted by the lack of media attention given to them outside the chamber. A delegation of Kuala Lumpur MPs trotted up to the Media Centre, only to discover that the Press boycott included them as well.
Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen (BN-Raub) also sent her staff to the Press room to determine why no one was interested in her, and the Information Ministry was forced to postpone the launch of its website “to a date yet to be determined”. (U En-Ng )
Khairy Jamaluddin (BNRembau), fresh from his scrape the day before, rose on a question of corruption to rail against the Selangor government.
“Lord Acton said power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” he began. “My question is: What is the result of the Anti-Corruption Agency’s (ACA) investigation into the corruption scandal involving the Selangor Menteri Besar? “Is this good governance? And what makes matters worse is the fact that the officer being investigated was suspended for two months yesterday, and has since resigned because he has no faith in the Menteri Besar.” Amidst thumping on the government benches, the words “ECM Libra” and “Avenue Capital ” issued from somewhere in the vicinity of Datuk Ibrahim Ali (Ind-Pasir Mas) and rang throughout the House.
(In 2005, Khairy was involved in a controversial merger of financial houses ECM Libra Capital Bhd and Avenue Capital Resources Bhd a government- linked company - but was cleared of any wrongdoing by the Public Accounts Committee on Aug 10 last year. On Aug 12, Khairy disposed of his interest in ECM Libra, but his name is still frequently mentioned in connection with that issue.) Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim (PKR-Bandar Tun Razak) was present in the House yesterday but responded to Khairy’s attack with a shrug, probably for the better since he has proven himself barely capable of stuttering his speeches in the House.
Khairy then had to give way to Datuk Seri Mohd Nazri Aziz (BN-Padang Rengas) who provided a perfunctory answer on behalf of the Prime Minister that proved to be of no account.
Things livened up considerably, however, when Khalid Abd Samad (Pas-Shah Alam) rose on a point of order after Question Time ended.
Referring to his speech the previous day, in which Khalid said Petronas was being subsidised by the people, the first term parliamentarian reported that he had since been censured by Information Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek (BNKemaman).
“The minister says that I made a traitorous statement.
In my speech yesterday (debating his brother’s motion on the price increases) it appears that my proposals were interpreted as an attempt to betray our national interests and to hand over our natural resources to foreign oil companies.
“This is a ‘tipuisme’ and ‘keliruisme’ (‘cheatism’ and ‘confusionism’).
‘Isms’ championed by the Barisan Nasional,” he declared, ridiculing the pseudo-intellectual habit of adding “isms” to every other word.
Barisan members, to their credit, began shouting wildly and matters went swiftly out of control despite Deputy Speaker Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Ja’afar’s impassioned speech, just moments before, for better Parliamentary standards.
Once order resumed, the House settled to debate various sleep-inducing Bills (the most interesting one, dealing with revisions to judicial pensions, was postponed).
At lunch, however, MPs became disconcerted by the lack of media attention given to them outside the chamber. A delegation of Kuala Lumpur MPs trotted up to the Media Centre, only to discover that the Press boycott included them as well.
Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen (BN-Raub) also sent her staff to the Press room to determine why no one was interested in her, and the Information Ministry was forced to postpone the launch of its website “to a date yet to be determined”. (U En-Ng )
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