Parliament: Witness protection Bill almost ready

The Star (2/7/08): The Government has completed the first draft of the Witness Protection Bill, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said.

He added the Bill was supposed to be tabled during this Parliament session.

"However, there are many issues that needed to be settled first before the Bill is presented to the Cabinet for official approval and sent to the House.

"The Government stands by its commitment to ensure that this Bill will be tabled during this session," he told Mohd Azmin Ali (PKR-Gombak).

Nazri said the Prime Minister had announced recently four measures to deter corruption and instil the people's confidence in the country's institutions and anti-corruption efforts.

"The third measure is that the Bill, which is being drafted now, will include comprehensive laws which will provide protection to both whistle-blowers and witnesses," he added.

Nazri told Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi (BN-Batu Pahat) that the Anti-Corruption Act could use the contents of poison-pen letters as a basis for investigations on wrong-doings.

"But the letters cannot be used in the courts as evidence," he added.

Youth associations must be re-registered

Youth associations already registered under the Societies Act 1966 must be re-registered under the newly-gazetted Youth Associations and Youth Development Act 2007.

Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob said all youth associations, whether they were already established or newly-formed, have until December to register.

He also said the most significant requirement stated in the new Act was that the age of leaders of youth organisations should not exceed 40 years.

"As of July this year, the ministry had received 417 applications, of which 212 were approved while 29 were rejected because they were based in Sabah and Sarawak, which don't come under the purview of the Act.

"The Ministry expects to receive 1,500 applications by the end of the year," he told Datuk Ismail Muttalib (BN-Maran).

Ismail said the number of racial-based umbrella youth associations comprised six Malay associations followed by Chinese and Indian associations with four each.

Asked why there were quite a number of associations which had not registered themselves with the ministry, Ismail said many of the main stakeholders of the associations had yet to register because they were above 40 years old.

Ismail Sabri said a 12-month window has been given to the youth associations (from the date the new Act came into force in December last year) to register to give the older leaders time to hand over the leadership to younger ones during their annual general meetings.

Nga chided for asking too many questions

Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia chided Nga Kor Ming (DAP-Taiping) for asking too many supplementary questions during Question Time.

In his original question, Nga had asked Deputy Education Minister Dr Wee Ka Siong whether there were 131 Chinese schools which were classified as unsafe.

Dr Wee gave a comprehensive reply on the ministry's efforts to rehabilitate Chinese and other national-type schools, while also denying the allegation that there were 131 Chinese schools classified as unsafe.

However, in his supplementary question, Nga took a few minutes to ask Dr Wee four questions, which raised the ire of backbenchers and brought the attention of Pandikar Amin.

"I've told all of you (MPs) many times not to make speeches and have debates during Question Time, and it's clear you are not listening to my advice," he added.

Pandikar Amin told Dr Wee to limit his reply to Nga's query on whether the widow of a teacher Chan Boon Heng, who fell to his death when the floor of a school in Kedah collapsed in 2005, had received compensation.

To this, Dr Wee said he would have to check the matter and submit a written reply to Nga to avoid any misunderstanding.

Earlier, Dr Wee said national-type schools which needed repairs must be confirmed first through an inspection process conducted by the Public Works Department before funds are allocated to carry out the repair works.

"We have checked the ministry's records and we found that there aren’t 131 Chinese schools that had been classified as dangerous.

"However, ministry officials will visit schools which need repairs to ensure that money is channelled to finance repair and rehabilitation work," he said.

Dr Wee also told Mohd Nor Othman (BN-Hulu Terengganu) that students of Chinese and Tamil schools which had low enrolment would be transferred to bigger schools.

Review salaries of Prison Dept officers

The Prisons Department has asked the Government to review the salaries and emoluments paid to department officers, Deputy Minister Datuk Chor Chee Heung said.

He added that civil servants had been given a pay rise on July 1 last year, in which Prison Department officers received an average raise between RM274.49 and RM829.73 each.

Chor said there is a slight difference between the pay scale of Prisons Department and police officers.

For example, the new basic pay scale of a prisons officer in the KX17 grade is RM827.94 compared to a police officer who receives RM1,100.

"The Ministry has asked the Public Service Department to make a review of the prisons officers salary and introduce incentives and allowances such as RM200 for control and prevention unit officers because their duties involved higher risks," he told Nasharuddin Mat Isa (PAS-Bachok).

Chor added the ministry was seeking increased incentive allowances for officers taking care of prisoners with serious diseases and new housing for at least 80% of all officers.

He told Khairy Jamaluddin (BN-Rembau) that there are now 37,446 prisoners in the country's prisons, which is 28% more than capacity.

Chor said the parole system, which was introduced recently, would help to settle the problem of overcrowding in the prisons.

Bank Islam, BSN given RM50m allocation for housing loans

Bank Islam Malaysia and Bank Simpanan Nasional have been given an allocation of RM50mil to provide loans to house buyers from the low-income group to buy low-cost houses, Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Ong Ka Chuan said.

He added these buyers, who didn't have adequate qualifications to ask for ordinary housing loans, could submit their applications to the two banks to buy their houses.

Ong told Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud (PAS-Kota Raja) the Government was aware of the difficulties faced by the lower income group in buying low-cost houses.

Their problems could be solved by applying for the RM50mil loan facilities offered by the two banks, he added.

Ong also said that as of March 31, a total of 30,072 squatters have been moved to people's housing projects (projek perumahan rakyat) implemented by the ministry.

"The squatters are required to pay only RM124 in monthly rental.

"There is no risk of their houses being seized or auctioned due to non-payment of rental because they are only renting from the Government," he added.

Ong told Datuk Halimah Mohd Sadique (BN-Tenggara) that among the problems faced by the ministry in helping to overcome the squatter problem was the lack of census data on the number of squatters.

"We also need to study the right locations to build low-cost housing for them.

"Many of the squatters also want to stay near their workplaces," he added.

Witty repartee doesn’t always translate to good debate

The Edge Daily (2/6/08): Some people expected the quality of debates in parliament to improve with more opposition members of parliament (MPs) to watch over the government. Undeniably, the Dewan Rakyat has become more interesting - but it is difficult to tell if the quality of debates has improved.

The first day of parliament was already marred by boyish antics from both the government and opposition camps. In a heated exchange over some technicalities, Karpal Singh (Bukit Gelugor-DAP) labelled Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin (Kinabatangan-BN) as “bigfoot”, and the latter responded in kind by calling Karpal “big monkey”.

Although such incidents are not unusual in the Dewan Rakyat, the matter was compounded by the fact that the first half hour of the parliament session was telecast live for the first time nationwide.

Some consider this as entertainment which one can expect from parliament, while others feel embarrassed, so much so that the Information Ministry threatened to stop the live telecast. In the end, the government decided to proceed with the broadcast.

However, the opposition has continuously engaged the government in name-calling and mud-slinging throughout the sessions.

Be that as it may, there was a lot of creativity flowing from the ranks of Pakatan Rakyat, especially Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) vice-president Azmin Ali (Gombak-PKR), who made a memorable remark in one of his speeches.

Taking a swipe at Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin (Rembau-BN), he said: “Since when does Umno care about “ketuanan Melayu” (Malay supremacy), when all this while it only practised “ketuanan menantu” (son-in-law’s supremacy)?”

When it came to Khairy’s turn to speak, the Umno Youth deputy chief tried to get his revenge by sowing the seed of disunity in the opposition camp, targeted at staunchly Islamic PAS MPs, by playing up the pig farm issue in Selangor.

He also said Pakatan Rakyat was just a “public relations” stunt among parties with different ideologies to pull wool over people’s eyes.

Calling PAS a “junior partner” in Pakatan Rakyat, he claimed that the PKR-led Selangor state government was giving more priority to “Projek Khinzir Raksasa” (mammoth pig project), which is a play on the acronym “PKR”.

Khairy’s remarks managed to rile up several PAS MPs, who pointed out that the project was actually approved by the previous state government led by Umno.

Not to be outdone by Khairy, Mahfuz Omar (Pokok Sena-PAS) said it was actually “Projek Babi Negara” (National Pig Project), which is a twist on the Barisan Nasional’s acronym.

Khairy appeared to be a favourite target of the opposition’s stinging attacks, as DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang (Ipoh Timur-DAP) had earlier called him the “richest unemployed in the world” for being able to acquire and sell a lot of shares in ECM Libra.

Lim also challenged Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir (Jerlun-BN), who is the youngest son of former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, to answer on his father’s behalf.

“Isn’t Dr Mahathir’s administration known for KKN? Does the honourable Jerlun MP know what KKN is? The first K stands for kronisme (cronyism), the second K for korupsi (corruption) and the N for nepotisme (nepotism),” he said.

Even the demure Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (Permatang Pauh-PKR) displayed her mettle as an Opposition Leader in the debate on the motion of thanks on the royal address, by hurling various accusations against the government.

She tried to implicate Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is also the defence minister, by alleging corruption in the procurement of military equipment, such as Scorpene submarines and Sukhoi fighter jets.

Najib also hogged the limelight as popular blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin was charged with sedition for his article, which contained allegations linking the deputy prime minister and his wife to the murder of Altantuya Shaaribuu.

Despite the prevalence of playground antics, the Dewan Rakyat still managed to hear an array of issues of public interest, ranging from food security to highway concessions.

While it is heartening to note that many MPs took the opportunity to raise many issues while debating the motion of thanks on the royal address, their skills on real policy matters are not really tested this round.

The real occasion for law-making only came in the fourth week when they debated the Supplementary Supply Bill and the Pensions (Amendments) Bill. Alas, the two bills had to be rushed through the Dewan Rakyat.

In a nutshell, it is still too early to tell whether parliamentary debates are better now, as mud-slinging and name-calling seem to have moved to a new level.

On a more positive note, the government is trying to become more responsive to certain issues judging from certain pronouncements made in parliament. Some BN MPs are also becoming more vocal on issues such as minority rights, corruption and independence of the judiciary.

For example, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Zaid Ibrahim has even been accused by some backbenchers from his own camp of being “an opposition minister” and “realising the opposition’s manifesto” for his plans to reform the judiciary.

The government also announced that it would consider taking over highway concessions or review the toll charges to reduce the financial burden on the people.

In fact, Abdullah himself was seen sitting in the Dewan Rakyat to observe parliamentary proceedings until as late as 11pm on one occasion.

At the end of the day, regardless of the quality of debates in parliament, the more important objective of parliamentary democracy is to ensure that the government is honest and responsive.

Who can replace Abdullah?

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)

Khairy: Opposition is scared of substance

Courtesy NST

Uproar over 'planted' question

NST (16/5/08):A supplementary question on the New Economic Policy triggered complaints from Pakatan Rakyat MPs that it was "planted".

It didn't help that Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Amirsham A. Aziz seemed to be reading from a prepared text.

The question was posed by Khairy Jamaluddin (BN-Rembau).

Usually, answers to supplementary questions require ministers and their deputies to answer on the spot.

The minister had earlier answered a question on the NEP, also posed by Khairy.

In his supplementary question, Khairy said Bagan MP Lim Guan Eng had said that the NEP bred corruption, cronyism and systematic inefficiency.

"Is this a fair statement or just a general conclusion?

"Doesn't that statement imply that all of us are cronies and 'kaki rasuah' (corrupt)? Is this fair?" the Rembau MP asked.

He pointed out that the system had produced millions of successful students and Bumiputera professionals.

"You are among those," he noted.

By all accounts, it was a good point to counter what Lim had said.

But, when Amirsham started speaking, the opposition bench cried foul.

Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur) protested that the answer was prepared, while Chong Eng (DAP-Bukit Mertajam) shouted that it was a "planted question" as the House erupted with laughter and catcalls as Amirsham continued.

Other MPs who joined in the fray included Khalid Abdul Samad (Pas-Shah Alam), who said "soalan bocor!" (leaked question) and Gobind Singh Deo (DAP-Puchong) who noted "mana boleh ini macam" (how can this be).

Mahfuz Omar (Pas-Pokok Sena) added by saying "siap jawapan sampai dua muka!" (the answer was so prepared, it ran into two pages).

Deputy Speaker Datuk Ronald Kiandee tried to control the situation with little success, while an oblivious Amirsham continued reading from his prepared text.

Dr P. Ramasamy (DAP-Batu Kawan) then asked another supplementary question on whether Amirsham understood the true spirit of affirmative action policy.

"In other countries, affirmative action is enjoyed by the minority, but here in Malaysia, it is enjoyed by the majority," he said to claps from opposition colleagues, prompting Ronald to rebuke them for their antics.

"Please don't clap in the House," he chided.

"The affirmative action is to help the poor and lower-income group. It eliminated poverty and gave equal opportunities to all," Amirsham said tersely.

His answer did not please the opposition, who reacted with jeers, prompting Datuk Seri Abdul Ghapur Salleh (BN-Kalabakan) to remark that the House had turned into a market.

The excitement would have died if not for Azmin Ali's (PKR-Gombak) dig at Khairy.

He quipped that the House had turned into a market because the "pengerusi pasar" (market chairman) is from Rembau.

This caused the backbenchers to kick up a storm with Khairy demanding that Azmin retract his word.

Later at the lobby, Khairy denied his supplementary question was planted.

"The minister is an intelligent man. He was the former CEO of Maybank and I'm sure he anticipated my question."

Khairy said the minister was looking at his facts to answer the question.

"It's not important whether (it's planted), but what's important is the substance.

"It's clear the opposition is trying to create trouble again because they are afraid of the answers."

Syed Hamid: No evidence to link Sabah CM to criminal misconduct

Bernama (14/5/08): Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said Wednesday there is no evidence to link Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman to four allegations of criminal misconduct.

The investigation papers on the matter had been submitted to the Sabah deputy public prosecutor who decided that there was no evidence to link Musa to the allegations, he said when winding up debate for his ministry on the motion of thanks for the royal address in the Dewan Rakyat.

Salahuddin Ayub (PAS-Kubang Kerian) had asked for the status of the investigation into 80 cases of police reports on the misconduct of the Sabah chief minister.

Syed Hamid said the remaining 76 cases, relating to corruption, had been handed over to the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) for investigation. He did not elaborate.

On July 2 last year, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had said in a written reply to Salahuddin that the investigation on the allegation of corruption against Musa was going on.

The prime minister referred to Section 21(4) of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1997 to state that any complaint could not be made public until the person accused was brought to court.

Kota Belud MP said offered large sum to defect

The Edge Daily (14/5/08): Backbencher Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan (Kota Belud-BN) caused a stir in parliament yesterday when he alleged that he was offered a large sum of money to defect to the opposition camp.

“I’d like to ask the Speaker, is it not corruption for certain opposition leaders to offer goodies to members of parliament (MPs) to jump ship? I myself have received a call offering a large sum of money to jump ship. Is that not corruption?

“They also offered me a Cabinet position. Is that not corruption?” he said when debating the motion of thanks on the royal address in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.

Abdul Rahman also claimed that bribery was pervasive during the contest against the late Tun Ghafar Baba for the position of Umno deputy president, where tons of money, projects and “pink forms” were used as “grease” to secure victory.

“We in Sabah still remember how delegates (to the Umno general assembly) can be bought and threatened. Thanks to the supreme leader of PKR (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) for introducing and turning money politics into a culture in Umno Sabah,” he said.

He also teased the Pakatan Rakyat on who would succeed Anwar if he became the next prime minister, claiming that his constituents were pressing him on the matter.

“Who will become the next prime minister after Anwar? The people want to know? Can Pakatan Rakyat continue to surprise and create history by appointing the first prime minister from among the Chinese and Indians — (for example) the honourable MPs from Ipoh Timur (Lim Kit Siang) or Bukit Gelugor (Karpal Singh) from the DAP. We will wait…” he said.

Abdul Rahman also questioned whether Pakatan would allow PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang to become prime minister.

“With his turban and robe ala Taliban, he is said to be unsuitable to hold the prime minister’s position as he can give the wrong image of Malaysia to foreign investors,” he said, adding that even non-Malays in Malaysia would be concerned if Hadi became either home or education minister.

He also asked whether PKR president and opposition Leader Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, whom he characterised as a puppet and warming the seat for Anwar, could become a prime minister.

Taking a swipe at Mohamed Azmin Ali (Gombak-PKR), Abdul Rahman said the PKR vice-president was so obsessed with his leader to the point of following Anwar’s style of clothing and speaking.

He ended his speech by saying Anwar was building an empire of nepotism and would appoint his daughter, Nurul Izzah (Lembah Pantai-PKR), to succeed him as prime minister.

Give prosecution powers to MCAC, says Khairy

The Edge Daily (13/5/08): Khairy Jamaluddin (Rembau-BN) has called for the Malaysian Commission for Anti-Corruption (MCAC) to be given prosecution powers as part of the country’s efforts to combat corruption.

“The implementation of the suggestion will allow the commission to focus on the prosecution of corruption cases and lift the burden off the Attorney-General’s Chambers, which is facing a backlog of cases,” he said in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.

Debating the motion of thanks on the royal address, Khairy praised the government’s effort to fight corruption by restructuring the Anti-Corruption Agency into an independent MCAC and to provide protection to whistleblowers.

“I also hope the government will continue its effort to combat corruption through the use of modern technology,” he said, adding that this would allow for money spent on anti-corruption efforts to bring the best value.

He said the government could use information technology to lower the cost of procurement and channel the savings to development projects.

Citing the example of electronic procurement, Khairy said it could ensure that goods would be sold to the government at reasonable prices, adding that this system had lowered the costs to giant corporations by up to 25%.

In his speech, Khairy also welcomed Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar’s proposal to review the annual licensing requirement for the print media, which would eliminate the bureaucratic restriction on print media’s freedom.

According to him, an open, responsible and credible mass media was a pillar of democratic system and there should be an integrated effort to increase the credibility of all forms of mass media.

He said new journalists, including journalists for weblogs and Internet news portals, should also enhance their skills by undergoing professional training like new journalists in the mainstream media. “This will expose them to the basics of journalism such as ethical journalism and laws regarding sedition and false news, to produce responsible journalists.”

Once the media industry could demonstrate a high degree of professionalism, including a greater sense of responsibility, the government could transfer its role of regulating the media to an independent body, Khairy said.

Khairy also highlighted that there were models for a commission of complaints on the media in several countries to prevent seditious news reports which could incite public anger.

“If this mechanism can be established and the regulation of the media can be done independently without affecting public peace and security, and if the industry is serious about building up their capability and skill for ethical, fair and responsible journalism, then the Printing Presses and Publications Act can be abolished,” he said.

Khairy also criticised the opposition for promising to lower oil prices by tapping Petronas’ coffers to win support during the general election.

He said the government received RM48.3 billion, representing 66.2% of Petronas’ gross profit, which went straight into the government’s budget for development purposes in 2007.

“Among others, the balance of the profit is used for exploration and production activities in foreign countries. Is it wrong for Petronas to look after our future to ensure we can at least share these foreign oil reserves when our reserves dry up?”

Khairy also called for Petronas to hold a special briefing and table its complete financial report in parliament to prove that the government and the national oil company had nothing to hide.

There was a commotion when he touched on the issue of food crisis and accused the Selangor state government of giving top priority to “Projek Khinzir Raksasa” (mammoth pig project) or PKR, which is also the acronym of the largest opposition party.

He was referring to the decision of the PKR-led Selangor state government to proceed with the centralised pig farming project in Kuala Langat.

Khairy also claimed that PAS had lost its “teeth” as it failed to take DAP to task on issues such as the social contract and the Malay monarchy.

Dismissing Pakatan Rakyat as just a public relations ploy among those with different ideologies, he said PAS did not even bring up the Islamic state once it became a “junior partner” in Pakatan Rakyat.

A shouting match with name-calling ensued as Khairy refused to ,allow other members of parliament to interject his allegations and questions posed to the opposition.

At one point, Mahfuz Omar (Pokok Sena-PAS) responded by saying that the pig farming project in Selangor was actually approved by the previous state government led by Umno.

Retaliating to Khairy’s twist on PKR’s acronym, he said it was “Projek Babi Negara” (national pig project), which is a play on Barisan Nasional’s (BN) acronym.

544 civil servants prosecuted for corruption from 2003-2007

Bernama (8/5/08): The Anti-Corruption Agency prosecuted 544 government officers and staff for various corruption offences from 2003 to 2007, the Dewan Rakyat was told Thursday.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz said 217 of these officers and staff were from the Royal Malaysia Police, 59 from the Education Department, 28 from the local authorities, 19 from the Welfare Department, 14 from the Islamic Affairs departments and councils and 12 from the Public Works Department.

Also prosecuted were 13 staff from the Road Transport Department, 12 from Ministry of Defence and the Armed Forces, 11 from the district land offices, 11 from the Royal Customs Department and 148 from other departments.

The corruption offences they committed included 329 cases of accepting bribes, four cases of giving and offering bribes, 103 cases of submitting documents containing false information and 40 cases of abuse of position.

One case was prosecuted under the Anti-Money Laundering Act and 67 cases under the Penal Code and other laws.

Mohamed Nazri was replying to Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud (PAS-Kota Raja) during question time on the number of civil servants charged with corruption from 2003 to 2007 and the government's strategy on handling corruption.

On efforts to enhance steps to fight corruption in the public sector, Mohamed Nazri said the ACA would change its method of enforcement and punitive action to encouraging government departments and agencies to cooperate with the ACA on various aspects of implementing programmes for prevention of corruption as well as prevention of misuse and abuse of power by stressing on internal surveillance.

"This will be done by setting up the Joint Committee on Prevention of Corruption that will involve direct communication with agencies that were considered critical and high-risk.

"By focusing on these agencies, we are confident there will be a big impact on the effectiveness of prevention of corruption in the country," he said.

The ACA, he said, would step up cooperation with the National Audit Department by taking early action on imbalances in government departments where elements of corruption as well as misuse and abuse of power could occur.