Encore! Encore! And the 2nd Finance Minister reappears for a return performance
NST (9/7/08): What merits a return engagement to the House? An oratorical command performance by a Minister or an MP so bewitching that it pressed members to screech for more? An articulation of the issues so stirring that it provokes hard the intellect and the demand are for seconds? Or perhaps a Ministerial response replete with a myriad of unanswered questions that agitated MPs from both sides of the political partition into mewling for an encore?
Whatever was the compulsion for Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop to invent history by returning to the House to answer for a second round? What was it in his first cycle of responses that could not fully encase all points raised during the rancorous debate on the Ninth Malaysia Plan Mid-Term Review?
Yesterday, MPs felt justified in demanding Nor Mohamed return to reply to points raised: Wee Choo Keong (PKR-Wangsa Maju) complained about the 2nd Finance Minister’s abruptness in concluding his winding-up speech. Dr Puad Zarkashi (BN-Batu Pahat) suggested too many questions were left unanswered. Azmin Ali (PKR-Gombak) was most diplomatic in his request to the Speaker to petition the Minister back into his House seat, relishing perhaps another salvo of combative comeuppance against the Minister after a previous clash on the issue of the Maybank purchase of Bank Internasional Indonesia.
Soon after, Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin saw nothing anomalous in the MPs' request but rightly stressed that the Minister had every right to ignore the request. That was the signal for Nor Mohamed to re-appear, to his credit, for his encore, his intrepid recoil to confront not just the unctuous Opposition but also the bawling brethrens among his BN vanguard.
Regardless of the motives of the petitioners, nothing like this had ever happened before today’s coming together of Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat MPs. And it should rightfully be recognised as one of their greatest bipartisan endeavour, notwithstanding the BN’s bitter denunciation of appointments of BN operatives to the Penang/Selangor Governments on the basis of professionalism.
In the realms of controversy, this would fit nicely as the second that was triggered during the MTR phase, the first being the Opposition’s boorish walkout on June 30 to protest Datuk Seri Najib Razak presence as the Minister to clarify points on the Prime Minister’s MTR speech. That evening’s walkout stomped on grounds that Najib had defiled Westminster and Commonwealth conventions that made his ministerial statement improper.
In the 2nd Finance Minister’s monotonic delivery of his Ministerial response, the words he spouted were deliberate and spartan, and it won’t weigh down on listeners to collapse in frolicsome ecstasy in the manner a firebrand Dr Martin Luther King Jr would. If brevity should be the mother of all languid House responses, then Nor Mohamed Yakcop would have embraced this concept with a singular mindfulness. But perhaps he overdid it. The MPs certainly craved for more.
At 11.45am, before he took on all comers again, Nor Mohamed expressed the dilemma he was wedged in to make this second engagement, worrying that he would "eat" into time rendered to other Ministers. "I am of the opinion that the House is a good place to discuss government policies and obtain feedback from members, regardless of party. However, at the same time, I need to respect my fellow ministers. We have 19 other ministries that have yet to wind up their debates and we are very short of time," he said.
Not to put a fine point to it but Nor Mohamed made it painfully clear that he did not want it to be a precedent. However, the Honourable Minister may want to read into the MPs’ minds who, no doubt, will giddily exploit this redux as a means to jolt attention into wresting answers from very reluctant Ministers.
So, while Nor Mohamed proceeded with replies that were not forthcoming yesterday, MPs leveraged this opportune moment with a new set of queries that dived squarely into the Government's measures in restructuring the fuel subsidy system that literally drove Malaysians bonkers since it was instituted last month.
One way to bring back some sanity to motorists already burdened by the higher cost of living was a tiered subsidy system to ensure a more effective direct disbursement of subsidies, as proposed by Fauziah Salleh (PKR-Kuantan). She suggested cards be issued to individuals and tailored according to their financial status and needs.
Surprising or not, the Minister agreed that Fauziah’s was a very good suggestion. “I assure members that the Government is in discussions with the relevant parties towards implementing it,” he said, the monotone pronounced as he narrated the necessary measures the Government has to implement but cannot for now, because they do not have the appropriate data system in place for immediate implementation of Fauziah’s proposal.
Azmin, to his gratification, did get another face-off time with Nor Mohamed as he called for the Government to devise ways to help Malaysians with a difficult debt burden as the credit crunch prodded by the higher fuel price hikes looms.
“The government has already discussed with banks on the possibility of extending the repayment period and reducing the monthly installments for existing home loans. The banks have been quite receptive to this suggestion. By extending the repayment period, the monthly installments can be reduced and effectively gives the people more money to be used as disposable income," the Minister was competent to answer.
All encores do come to a glorious end no matter how desperate the audience demands for more, so Nor Mohamed decided that lunch break was as a good time as any to end his return engagement. MPs howled for more answers but the Minister would have none of it. Nor Mohamed did agree to have one more encore but at the lobby and for the media, as he defended his organisation of answers, unsatisfactory as it may seem to the MPs.
Not to be outstripped by the still whining MPs, Nor Mohamed persisted that his replies were adequate given the multifarious questions that he had to field. “Time was limited in answering all of them,” he explained. “I have no problem returning but what's important is to ensure that Government policies are fully understood by the people.”
“This is the opportunity for me to explain in detail,” he said, the monotone even more pronounced. “Although there were interruptions from the Opposition, I find members accept my explanations."
The 2nd Finance Minister finally intimated that despite the encumbrance of the issues, especially those tied to the subsidies; it was the MPs who were unable to understand the magnitude of the subject’s gravity, which was his way of saying that some MPs, the Opposition possibly, must do more reading, understanding and familiarity of economics.
He also didn’t say it but he may have implied that MPs should acquire the book “Economics for Dummies.”
Whatever was the compulsion for Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop to invent history by returning to the House to answer for a second round? What was it in his first cycle of responses that could not fully encase all points raised during the rancorous debate on the Ninth Malaysia Plan Mid-Term Review?
Yesterday, MPs felt justified in demanding Nor Mohamed return to reply to points raised: Wee Choo Keong (PKR-Wangsa Maju) complained about the 2nd Finance Minister’s abruptness in concluding his winding-up speech. Dr Puad Zarkashi (BN-Batu Pahat) suggested too many questions were left unanswered. Azmin Ali (PKR-Gombak) was most diplomatic in his request to the Speaker to petition the Minister back into his House seat, relishing perhaps another salvo of combative comeuppance against the Minister after a previous clash on the issue of the Maybank purchase of Bank Internasional Indonesia.
Soon after, Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin saw nothing anomalous in the MPs' request but rightly stressed that the Minister had every right to ignore the request. That was the signal for Nor Mohamed to re-appear, to his credit, for his encore, his intrepid recoil to confront not just the unctuous Opposition but also the bawling brethrens among his BN vanguard.
Regardless of the motives of the petitioners, nothing like this had ever happened before today’s coming together of Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat MPs. And it should rightfully be recognised as one of their greatest bipartisan endeavour, notwithstanding the BN’s bitter denunciation of appointments of BN operatives to the Penang/Selangor Governments on the basis of professionalism.
In the realms of controversy, this would fit nicely as the second that was triggered during the MTR phase, the first being the Opposition’s boorish walkout on June 30 to protest Datuk Seri Najib Razak presence as the Minister to clarify points on the Prime Minister’s MTR speech. That evening’s walkout stomped on grounds that Najib had defiled Westminster and Commonwealth conventions that made his ministerial statement improper.
In the 2nd Finance Minister’s monotonic delivery of his Ministerial response, the words he spouted were deliberate and spartan, and it won’t weigh down on listeners to collapse in frolicsome ecstasy in the manner a firebrand Dr Martin Luther King Jr would. If brevity should be the mother of all languid House responses, then Nor Mohamed Yakcop would have embraced this concept with a singular mindfulness. But perhaps he overdid it. The MPs certainly craved for more.
At 11.45am, before he took on all comers again, Nor Mohamed expressed the dilemma he was wedged in to make this second engagement, worrying that he would "eat" into time rendered to other Ministers. "I am of the opinion that the House is a good place to discuss government policies and obtain feedback from members, regardless of party. However, at the same time, I need to respect my fellow ministers. We have 19 other ministries that have yet to wind up their debates and we are very short of time," he said.
Not to put a fine point to it but Nor Mohamed made it painfully clear that he did not want it to be a precedent. However, the Honourable Minister may want to read into the MPs’ minds who, no doubt, will giddily exploit this redux as a means to jolt attention into wresting answers from very reluctant Ministers.
So, while Nor Mohamed proceeded with replies that were not forthcoming yesterday, MPs leveraged this opportune moment with a new set of queries that dived squarely into the Government's measures in restructuring the fuel subsidy system that literally drove Malaysians bonkers since it was instituted last month.
One way to bring back some sanity to motorists already burdened by the higher cost of living was a tiered subsidy system to ensure a more effective direct disbursement of subsidies, as proposed by Fauziah Salleh (PKR-Kuantan). She suggested cards be issued to individuals and tailored according to their financial status and needs.
Surprising or not, the Minister agreed that Fauziah’s was a very good suggestion. “I assure members that the Government is in discussions with the relevant parties towards implementing it,” he said, the monotone pronounced as he narrated the necessary measures the Government has to implement but cannot for now, because they do not have the appropriate data system in place for immediate implementation of Fauziah’s proposal.
Azmin, to his gratification, did get another face-off time with Nor Mohamed as he called for the Government to devise ways to help Malaysians with a difficult debt burden as the credit crunch prodded by the higher fuel price hikes looms.
“The government has already discussed with banks on the possibility of extending the repayment period and reducing the monthly installments for existing home loans. The banks have been quite receptive to this suggestion. By extending the repayment period, the monthly installments can be reduced and effectively gives the people more money to be used as disposable income," the Minister was competent to answer.
All encores do come to a glorious end no matter how desperate the audience demands for more, so Nor Mohamed decided that lunch break was as a good time as any to end his return engagement. MPs howled for more answers but the Minister would have none of it. Nor Mohamed did agree to have one more encore but at the lobby and for the media, as he defended his organisation of answers, unsatisfactory as it may seem to the MPs.
Not to be outstripped by the still whining MPs, Nor Mohamed persisted that his replies were adequate given the multifarious questions that he had to field. “Time was limited in answering all of them,” he explained. “I have no problem returning but what's important is to ensure that Government policies are fully understood by the people.”
“This is the opportunity for me to explain in detail,” he said, the monotone even more pronounced. “Although there were interruptions from the Opposition, I find members accept my explanations."
The 2nd Finance Minister finally intimated that despite the encumbrance of the issues, especially those tied to the subsidies; it was the MPs who were unable to understand the magnitude of the subject’s gravity, which was his way of saying that some MPs, the Opposition possibly, must do more reading, understanding and familiarity of economics.
He also didn’t say it but he may have implied that MPs should acquire the book “Economics for Dummies.”
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