PR MPs stage walkout

The Edge Daily (30/6/08): Pakatan Rakyat (PR) Members of Parliament (MPs) staged a walkout from the Dewan Rakyat today to protest Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia’s decision to allow Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to speak on the Mid-Term Review of the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP).

While in the Dewan Rakyat, DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang, supported by other Pakatan Rakyat members, pointed out that it would be a misuse of Standing Order 14(1)(i) to make a ministerial statement on his support for the mid-term review.

“He should have make the statement when he seconded the motion last week,” Lim said, adding that it was misuse of standing order.

Meanwhile, Mahfuz Omar (PAS-Pokok Sena) questioned whether the government was admiting that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had missed out some points when he presented his speech on the mid-term review last Thursday by allowing Najib to provide further explanations.

In response, Pandikar said it was his discretion under the Standing Order as the Speaker to allow Najib to make the speech and told the MPs who disagreed with his decision to submit a motion to the parliament on the matter.

Week of shockwaves and drama for Malaysian politics

The Star (6/7/08): Shockwaves pounded the Dewan Rakyat one after another starting with a sodomy allegation and ending with a statutory declaration on Altantuya Shaariibuu’s murder.

There was so much action on the side that the debate on the Mid-Term Review of the Ninth Malaysia Plan was sidelined as many MPs tried to get the latest updates.

The week started with everyone asking the whereabouts of PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim following the sodomy allegation against him. Many were also asking who the accuser – 23-year-old Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan – was.

Anwar's wife, Opposition Leader Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (PKR-Permatang Pauh) and daughter Nurul Izzah Anwar (PKR-Lembah Pantai) were much sought after by the media.

Inside the Dewan, Anwar also caused a stir when Gobind Singh Deo (DAP-Puchong) mentioned his name when he tried to ask a supplementary question on housing.

An argument between Gobind Singh and Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia took place and Gobind Singh ended up being kicked out of the Dewan for two days.

It was Monday and the drama had only just began.

At the end of Question Time, just when Dr Wan Azizah was scheduled to debate on the Mid-Term Review, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak stood up to table a ministerial statement.

Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur), citing Standing Orders, protested, saying it was an unprecedented move for Najib to speak as the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had tabled the motion on the Review the previous week.

Lim said that anything that Najib wanted to say should have been done when supporting the motion then.

Pandikar Amin replied that the Malaysian Parliament had its own House rules and allowed Najib to speak.

Opposition MPs then staged a walkout as Najib went on to explain the government’s social restructuring policies.

Dr Wan Azizah, who was outside the Dewan with the rest, did not get to debate and it was Datuk Ibrahim Ali (Independent-Pasir Mas) who spoke – for more than one hour.

Meanwhile outside Parliament house, a group of PKR supporters and several NGOs who wanted to meet Dr Wan Azizah, ended up having a shouting match with security personnel when they were denied entry.

The next day turned out to be hectic again as news emerged that Anwar had left the Turkish Embassy the evening earlier.

The highlight of the day was the meeting concerning Anwar's safety between Abdullah and Dr Wan Azizah at his office in Parliament building.

There was other activity as well as S.A. Vigneswaran, who quit as MIC Youth chief days earlier, met Umno Youth chief Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein while MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu met Najib.

Inside the Dewan, Pandikar Amin announced that Gobind Singh visited him in his office to apologise and therefore the episode between them was closed.

But Gobind Singh returned to Parliament and denied making any apology.

“I have no reason to apologise, I have done nothing wrong and there is no need for me to apologise,” he said, showing no remorse.

This riled several MPs, who tried to refer him to the Rights and Privileges Committee.

While tension was mounting inside the Dewan, in the lobby the press waited for Abdullah and Dr Wan Azizah’s meeting to be over.

In the end, the journalists had to split up to attend Abdullah's press conference and Dr Wan Azizah's – as both held them at the same time.

On Thursday, Parliament was again hit by the shock wave of private investigator P. Balasubramaniam’s statutory declaration linking Najib with murdered Mongolian translator Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Mahfuz Omar (PAS-Pokok Sena) latched on to the piece of breaking news in his debate and received jeers and shouts from the backbenchers.

However, he caught the attention of MPs resting in the lounge as many rushed to the TV screens to listen.

It really was a hectic week, very unlike the usual sittings.

The Dewan Rakyat sits again tomorrow.

Mahfuz raises latest allegation against Najib in Parliament

The Star (4/7/08): PAS information chief Mahfuz Omar has gone where angels fear to tread and brought up the latest allegation by a private investigator against Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in his debate at the Dewan Rakyat at 4.30pm.

The Pokok Sena MP, who had earlier been criticising the Government’s policies on the control of fuel prices, took many MPs by surprise when he raised the issue at the tail end of his debate.

This prompted Deputy Speaker Datuk Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar to remind Mahfuz that “his time was up” while some of the backbenchers took to heckling him.

Touching on the ministerial statement delivered by Najib on Monday to further explain the social restructuring policies under the Mid-Term Review report, Mahfuz said this was equivalent to a “no-confidence’ motion against Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

“His (Najib’s) wife has been implicated in the statutory declaration by Raja Petra Kamarudin, which claimed that she was present during (Mongolian translator) Altantuya (Shaariibuu)’s murder.

“And the latest allegation by private investigator P. Balasubramaniam in his own statutory declaration that Altantuya had been promised US$500,000 commission from the sale of a submarine – what about all these statutory declarations? How is the investigation into all these claims going to be?” Mahfuz asked.

At this point, someone was heard shouting that “just because it’s a statutory declaration, this doesn’t mean it’s the truth”.

There were also jeers for Mahfuz not to fitnah (slander) and a slow rumble of disapproval could be heard from among the backbenchers.

He only sat down after Wan Junaidi repeatedly told him his debate time was over.

Melodrama ends as statutory declarations ignite the possibility of winning Olympic gold

NST (2/7/08): After three days of melodramatic dissidence between MP for Puchong Gobind Singh Deo and Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia that fixated the easily excitable MPs, the House may have been “converted” into a soundstage for the set of Law & Order: Dewan Rakyat for a fourth scintillating day of juicy squabbles but it was not to be. And for good reason.

The excitement today throbbed outside the confines of Parliament House, hijacked into the realm of the national political psyche by that master impresario himself, Anwar Ibrahim. He held court at the PKR HQ, surrounded by officials, supporters, loyalists and supplicants, in revealing a private investigator’s statutory declaration that contained incendiary revelations on the state of the political domain, which Anwar claims, is reeling from crises of confidence, inflationary worries, party in-fighting, leadership and anything that could swing public perception to back his bid for the Premiership.

Back to the House, the routine and the prosaic was reinstalled, until Mahfuz Omar (Pas-Pokok Sena), at the tail end of his colourful description of all things inadequate and hopeless about the Mid-Term Review, interpolated the very thing that Anwar was creaming elsewhere for all its worth.

Perhaps it was the titillating nature of the subject or its graphic debauchery, but Deputy Speaker Datuk Wan Junaidi Tunku Jaafar somehow didn’t spring into action to defuse Mahfuz from heckling away, seeing that the topic had detoured from anything resembling a Mid-Term Review thing. And surprisingly, neither did the BN backbenchers howl in protest.

So Mahfuz had a free run until Wan Junaidi decided to halt the Pas information chief, on the account that his 20-minute Hyde Park-styled rap was up. That didn’t matter. Mahfuz bulldozed his way to mouth off more of statutory declaration contents, ignoring twice warnings from the Deputy Speaker and a snipe from Ibrahim Ali (IND).

Nobody always knew the stance or direction the irascible Ibrahim would take in his intercalation of debates, especially those between the Government and the Opposition, but in this case, he came to the rescue of the people implicated in the statutory declarations. “It’s only a statutory declaration. Don’t ‘fitnah’,” was his succinct snipe.

When Mahfuz began to break away like a runaway train, Wan Junaidi had had enough. He muted Mahfuz’s microphone while the Pokok Sena MP yapped his way into a state of audibility only the MPs surrounding him could make out. Realising that his microphone was silenced, Mahfuz stopped talking and sat down with a sheepishly satisfied look.

But by taking away sensationalism out of the debates, the extraordinarily ordinary came in its place to allow lesser known MPs the chance to argue economic points of the MTR. Loke Siew Fook (DAP-Rasah) must have burnt many midnight oils to bring forth his legwork but it didn’t court controversy until he impregnated his speech with the charge that Umno committed the folly of eroding Malay trust with the inept implementation of the New Economic Policy.

Loke’s charge throttled the perennially choleric interjector Datuk Tajuddin Rahman to blast back, sans Speaker permission as always, as he accused Loke of egging away Malay fortitude, pride and rights with the DAP’s known disavowal of the NEP. Loke refused to back down, insisting that the DAP respected the NEP’s policy of raising the socio-economic status of “poor Malays and bumiputeras”, just as long as it wasn’t done the Umno way. Tajuddin laughed off Loke’s stance, scorning it as “insincere” but the argument lapsed there and then.

But there was another salient point Loke raised that subtly hit the nerve of the national psyche – the inability to maintain punctuality. He complained that the public transport the Government built was fine for its engineering marvels, especially the train services between Seremban and Kuala Lumpur, but he could not stand for its continual delays, unlike the services in other developed countries where the train arrives “not a minute early and not a minute late.” That’s hitting the nail on the head for tardy Malaysians’ fondness for flagrant time keeping.

Loke proposed that the transport authorities hire a German consultant to work out the snags in six months while he flushes the public transport inefficiencies out of its drowsiness. “If the German fails in six months, then you can sack him and if you continue to fail to improve the system, then the Transport Minister should resign or be sacked,” he said.

It was a golden moment for Raime Unggi (BN-Tenom) to highlight the plight of his home state Sabah for the inequalities and neglect it suffered for decades but he decided to use it on a national issue – the Olympics, specifically questioning why the Government should award RM1 million each to Malaysian athletes who score a gold medal in next month’s Beijing Olympics.

“This would only produce materialistic athletes who no longer strive to win medals for the sake of the country,” he reckoned. “The original intention of international sports meets, including the Olympics, is to produce athletes who bring glory to the country they represent.”

Raime argued that the huge incentive may pamper the victorious athlete and let slip a dip in form. Instead of cash, it was better to send the promising athletes for overseas training. Raime’s visionary foresight is praiseworthy only for his confidence that long before it becomes moot, a Malaysian athlete can actually win an Olympic gold medal!

If a Malaysian could actually WIN a gold medal, then he or she deserves the avalanche of accolades in profitable or glorious terms. He or she should also be made a Prime Minister for a day as the ultimate reward and signed legal decrees or award contracts for projects of whatever his or her heart desires.

Win it first, in any way possible or at any sacrificial cost, then let’s talk about being pampered into becoming materialistic morons.

Pakatan Rakyat MPs stage walkout

The Edge Daily (1/7/08): Pakatan Rakyat Members of Parliament (MPs) staged a walkout from the Dewan Rakyat yesterday to protest against Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia’s decision to allow Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to speak on the Mid-Term Review of the Ninth Malaysia Plan.

Pandikar said it was his discretion under the Standing Orders as the Speaker to allow Najib to make the speech, and told the MPs who disagreed with his decision to submit a motion to parliament on the matter.

DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang (Ipoh Timur-DAP), supported by other Pakatan Rakyat members, pointed out that it would be a misuse of Standing Order 14(1)(i) to make a ministerial statement on his support for the mid-term review.

“He should have made the statement when he seconded the motion last week,” Lim said, adding that it was misuse of a standing order.

He said they walked out in protest because there was no respect for the standing orders.

“This has never happened. It was very clear the DPM didn’t use his opportunity to support the mid-term review last Thursday, and now he wants a second bite of the cherry. It is unparliamentary and unacceptable. We will present a motion to review the Speaker’s decision on this matter and also on suspending the Puchong MP for two days,” Lim said.

He said any ministerial statement should have instead touched on Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who was taking refuge in the Turkish Embassy because of fear for his personal safety. “That is an urgent matter. Not an extra explanation on the mid-term review. That is ridiculous,” he said.

Pakatan Rakyat MPs kept interrupting Najib, who was trying to deliver his speech, with various points of order until they finally decided to walk out in protest.

As they were walking out, the deputy prime minister could be heard quipping that it was “better” without the opposition MPs in the House.

In his speech, Najib elaborated on the third thrust of the 9MP, which involved strategies to overcome socio-economic inequality in a constructive and productive manner, to avoid misinterpretation by any party.

“The approach taken under this thrust is to reduce the imbalances among ethnic groups, between rural and urban areas and among regions. I would like to explain that the implementation of strategies under this thrust will not exclude opportunities to other groups,” he said.

Mahfuz Omar (Pokok Sena-PAS) asked if the government was admitting that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had missed out some points when he presented his speech on the mid-term review last Thursday by allowing Najib to provide further explanations.

Opposition leader Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (Permatang Pauh-PKR) questioned why was there a need for Najib to add further explanations to the mid-term review.

“The review by the PM finished before 1pm last Thursday. They had time until 5.30pm,” she said. The House went into a recess until Monday right after Abdullah had presented the review.

Nasharuddin puts down steps taken by Government

The Star (2/7/08): The recent government measures to stem the economic fallout due to the rise in world oil prices are weak and unacceptable, Nasharuddin Mat Isa (PAS – Bachok) said.

He said the Government had not been listening to the worries stated by the people on the hardship they were facing following the recent hike in fuel prices.

For example, Nasharuddin said the Mid-Term Review of the 9th Malaysia Plan (9MP) had not taken into consideration the recent rise in global oil prices.

“What is the value of development to be paid for with RM230bil when the low-income groups and the government servants cannot enjoy this wealth and are living from hand-to-mouth daily?,” he said.

“The Prime Minister had stated that the recent measures to raise fuel prices couldn’t be helped due to pressure from outside forces.

“For us, this reasoning is weak and negative.

“We are sure that the Government can do something better than this. Unfortunately, it has not been listening to the people.

“In fact, more people will hold a protest this Sunday to express their unhappiness on the situation,” Nasharuddin added in his speech during the debate on the Mid-Term Review of the 9MP.

Nasharuddin also questioned why the country was contributing money to the Commonwealth Endowment Fund in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of the Commonwealth when the money could be used to finance the repair of schools.

He also questioned how much was given to the fund.

Fury, suspension and a walkout

Malay Mail (1/7/08): Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia, who has long been threatening to erupt in fury at Members’ indiscipline, finally invoked Rule 46 of Parliamentary Standing Orders yesterday to suspend Gobind Singh Deo (DAPPuchong) from the House for two days.

The first-term backbencher had taken a swipe at the government’s handling of the latest Anwar Ibrahim affair, and did so during a completely unrelated supplementary question on abandoned residential housing projects.

“This is a matter of security,” Gobind began, but got no further than “just as Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim” before general mayhem broke out on the government benches.

Gobind was allowed to continue but insisted on the rather pompous Malaysian habit of preceding every question with a century-long speech masquerading as a preamble.

Pandikar Amin swiftly lost patience, amidst much wailing and gnashing of government teeth, and made the Sergeant-at-Arms escort Gobind from the House, A deceptive calm then descended as Members, chastened by the experience, sought politely to dispose of Question Time as quickly as possible.

Mahfuz Omar (Pas - Pokok Sena) managed to ask a tricky question about Petronas’s expenditure on the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) and Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department S. K.

Devamany (BN-Cameron Highlands) tried his best to wriggle his way to safety.

“The MPO represents a part of Petronas’s corporate social responsibility to provide recreational activities and facilities to meet a part of society’s many demands today,” he told an incredulous opposition.

“And as a country of diverse peoples, including expatriates, these facilities offer a choice to those who enjoy the live performances of a world-standard symphony orchestra.” The opposition was rumbling, and Devamany wisely went on to state the good the MPO had managed to do in the years since its foundation: It had assisted 1,000 local musicians and 110 youths (as part of the Malaysian Philharmonic Youth Orchestra), and had encouraged 30 new orchestral compositions.

Humbug, thought Mohd Azmin Ali (PKR-Gombak): “In Venezuela, where they have a similar programme of using oil money for music, they have hundreds of community orchestras involving thousands of Venezuelan youths.

“How then does the MPO compare?” he demanded, but Devamany was saved by the bell. Pandikar Amin directed him not to answer as time had run out, and Azmin had allegedly strayed from the original question anyway.

The deceptive calm then vanished like morning mist.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who had appeared in his seat some minutes earlier, was given the floor to make a ministerial statement seeking to “clarify” a point in the Prime Minister’s Mid-Term Review of the Ninth Malaysia Plan (delivered last Thursday).

Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur) rose on a point of order before Najib managed to utter his first line, and demanded to know the grounds on which Najib now held the floor.

A half-hour long argument then ensued, during which Lim and opposition leaders maintained that such a move would compromise parliamentary standards beyond redemption, and to which Pandikar Amin retorted that the decision was his, and that nothing could be done about it It should be noted, however, that at no time did the Speaker attempt to eject Lim for being cantankerous. That would have been disastrous, and Pandikar Amin managed to remain relatively calm.

At one point Najib, mistakenly thinking the coast to be clear, rose to continue — only to have to sit down again under a barrage of points of order now issuing from several opposition Members.

Government backbenchers were restive and tried some tentative booing, but something was brewing on the opposition frontbench: Azmin kept nodding assent at his colleagues. Notes were passed. Pas frontbenchers were getting excited (a rare thing), and Karpal Singh (DAP-Bukit Gelugor), the father of Gobind, was assaulting the chair with quotations from the House of Commons rulebook that appeared insuperable.

Again Pandikar Amin relied on his interpretive powers under Rule 99 of the Standing Orders, and finally the opposition rose as one and walked out of the House.

This had the unfortunate effect of leaving the floor open, after Najib’s statement, to Ibrahim Ali (Ind- Pasir Mas) who thanked the absent opposition for the sterling opportunity to present an hour-long harangue about everything ranging from higher education to the price of potatoes.

The rest of the day proceeded quite normally.

Opposition stages walkout

The Star (1/7/08): In A day of high drama in Parliament, the Opposition staged a walkout after the House allowed a ministerial statement by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

The statement – which was to explain the Government’s social restructuring policies under the Mid-Term Review (MTR) report of the Ninth Malaysia Plan – was not listed in the Order Paper and took many MPs by surprise when Najib stood up at the end of the question and answer session.

Mass exit: Opposition Leader Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Ismail leading Opposition MPs as they walk out of the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.

The statement provoked a chain reaction from the block as one Opposition MP after another stood up on Point of Order objecting to it.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had last Thursday tabled a motion on the MTR report.

Before Najib had gone beyond reading a few words of the statement, Lim Kit Siang (DAP – Ipoh Timor) stopped him, demanding to know if he was participating in the debate or if he was delivering a ministerial statement.

When Najib said that he was delivering a statement, Lim commented that this was very “unusual” as any explanation should have been given by Abdullah himself during the tabling.

However, despite Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia saying that the House was allowing the statement under Standing Order 14 (1), Mahfuz Omar (PAS – Pokok Sena) stood up to contend that if that was so, then Abdullah had failed in “adequately explaining the government’s policies during the tabling earlier”.

“Any such explanation should have been done then. Why are you taking up our debate time?” he demanded, to which Pandikar Amin replied that Mahfuz could bring up this same concern during his debate on the motion later.

The Speaker clamped down on further protests by Lim, adding that under Standing Order 99, his decision was absolute.

“Standing Order 99 should not be used as a justification for every decision by the Chair. If that is so, what’s the point of the Standing Orders?” Lim said.

When Lim insisted on pressing this further, Pandikar Amin told him to put in a request with the Chair for a motion if he was unhappy about his decision.

The Speaker continued to ask Lim to put in a notice for such a motion despite the party stalwart complaining that it was “meaningless to do so”.

“I have put in several notices but none ever came up,” Lim said, adding that Najib’s statement should be considered as a speech to second Abdullah’s motion and that it was abusing Standing Order 14.

After Salahuddin Ayub (PAS – Kubang Kerian), Dr Dzulkifli Ahmad (PAS – Kuala Selangor), Tian Chua (PKR – Batu) and Mahfuz had stood up in succession amidst grumbling from the backbenchers to get on with the statement, Pandikar Amin said his only agenda was to “protect the Chair.”

“So, please help me to protect it. What’s wrong with allowing the statement if it’s for the interest of the rakyat?

“If Yang Berhormat is dissatisfied or feels this is wrong, you can hit out all you want during debate,” he said.

At one point, when Karpal Singh (DAP – Bukit Gelugor) raised the Standing Order, Pandikar Amin said he would no longer entertain any more arguments after hearing from the former as “he is a famous lawyer”.

To Karpal Singh asking if Abdullah had “made a mistake” in his tabling earlier as a ministerial statement was only allowed in England for this purpose, the Speaker said the Malaysian Parliament had its own House rules.

“Under the Standing Orders, Yang Berhormat, one has to leave the Dewan quietly,” he said as a parting shot as the Opposition bloc stood up en masse to walk out of the proceedings.

In the lobby, Lim said it was unparliamentary and unacceptable of the Speaker to allow Najib to explain further on the Ninth Malaysia Plan.

“This proves that there is an internal problem within Umno, despite the fact that both Najib and Abdullah have been said to be on good terms.

“We will bring up a substantive motion to scrutinise the Speaker’s decision on this,” he said.

Lim added that such an incident had never taken place in the House before, and was a sign of disrespect to the laws of Parliament.

Tian Chua said the Speaker had broken the Parliament convention just to accommodate the “differences” between Najib and the Prime Minister.

“Furthermore, the Speaker refused to explain his decision. This could set an inappropriate precedent,” he said.

Opposition MPs walk out in protest over Najib's 'speech'

Bernama (30/6/08): Opposition members of parliament (MPs) on Monday walked out of the Dewan Rakyat citing violation of the standing orders when Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak was allowed to add more details to last Thursday's speech by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi when tabling the mid-term review of the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP).

Most of these MPs stayed away until Najib had completed his speech. Independent MP Datuk Ibrahim Ali (Pasir Mas) did not join the walkout, saying the move was unwise.

The walkout took place in less than an hour after Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo was suspended from the house for two days after he had raised an unrelated matter -- the issue of the sodomy allegation against Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) advisor Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and his seeking refuge at the Turkish Embassy -- when asking a supplementary question during Question Time.

When Najib stood up to deliver his speech, which was further explanation to the motion on the mid-term review of the 9MP tabled by Abdullah, Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur) objected by saying that the procedure was unusual because it was the norm for a motion to be debated after it was tabled.

Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia dismissed Lim's argument and said Najib should be allowed to give the additional details.

At this juncture, Mahfuz Omar (PAS-Pokok Sena) asked whether the prime minister's speech was not clear enough.

Lim said Najib should give the additional details by participating in the debate like the other MPs.

He had the support of several other MPs, including Chua Tian Chang (PKR-Batu), Salahuddin Ayub (PAS-Kubang Kerian) and Karpal Singh (DAP-Bukit Gelugor).

When the Speaker insisted on Najib giving his speech, the Opposition MPs walked out of the house.

Opposition MPs walk out on Najib

Malaysiakini (30/6/08): Opposition parliamentarians today staged a walkout from the Dewan Rakyat to protest against Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's ministerial statement that elaborated on the 9th Malaysia Plan mid-term review.
MCPX

They were protesting against Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia for allowing Najib to provide details left out by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in his mid-term review speech last Thursday.

The opposition MPs argued that Najib's ministerial statement was against the standing order and parliamentary convention. (Full report)

How very ‘British’ of the Opposition MPs to walk out on Najib

NST (30/6/08): First Gobind Singh Deo (DAP-Puchong) was ordered out of the House by the House Speaker for stridently quibbling over relevancy to tenuously tie Anwar Ibrahim with a supplementary question about housing, then his tribe of Oppositionists, led by his mentors Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timor) and his father Karpal Singh (DAP-Bukit Gelugor), stage crafted a wholesale walkout of DAP, PKR and Pas MPs to discompose the House over a procedural feud whether the Datuk Seri Najib Razak can speak or not.

While Gobind was fuming outside the House for his unceremonious ejection, the full complement of the Opposition MPs decided to join him in equal fulmination – perhaps to get back at House and Barisan Nasional for red-carding Gobind – by protesting the Speaker’s decision to permit the Deputy Prime Minister to make a ministerial statement on the Mid-Term Review of the 9th Malaysia Plan tabled by the Prime Minister on June 26.

So what’s the big beef about such a mundane procedure? It would seem that it had something to do with Malaysia’s former colonial master’s ways and means on House conduct and propriety. At best, the walkout was could be pictured as niggardly pedantic and at worst, it bordered on boorish formalism.

Although Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia invoked Standing Order 14 (1) (i) greenlighting Najib to table his ministerial statement, the Opposition MPs wasn’t buying into it, resolutely contending that any correction or addition should be brought forth by the PM. Najib counterargued that he was tabling the ministerial statement because he seconded the tabling of the Mid-Term Review.

It would seem the procedure approved by the Speaker had a contentious consequence – it defiled Westminster and Commonwealth conventions, making Najib’s ministerial statement improper. The whole walkout was for that reasoning?

Kit and Karpal were quick and attentive to alert the Speaker that Najib’s initiative was “hostile” to British propriety. In good form, Kit produced an overblown criticism of the Speaker’s approval – that it tantamount to “reckless disregard of parliamentary practices, procedures and rules.” Najib, he countered, was allowed to misuse the Standing Order.

"He should have made all the remarks he wanted to when he was seconding the Mid-Term Review. Not now. It should have been done immediately. He is trying to have a second bit at the cherry. This is a gross abuse of parliamentary standing orders," Kit charged. “It sets a most dangerous precedent that the government front-benchers can abuse the standing orders at their whim and fancy. It is being perverted to accommodate Najib.”

Kit went on to contend that the proper subject for ministerial statement would be the Government’s position on Anwar Ibrahim, who at the time of this writing, had left the Turkish Embassy after holing up overnight as a precaution against death threat.

The Speaker, unperturbedly, invoked Standing Orders 43 and 99 to make his decision final, challenging dissatisfied MPs to table motions to contest it. In his blog, Kit indicated that substantive motions will be submitted to review the Speaker’s alleged misuse of Standing Orders and also to steer attention to Gobind’s ejection.

Soon after, Mahfuz Omar (PAS-Pokok Sena) launched a leading question to Pandikar Amin, asking the Speaker if he was admitting that the PM had erred when he tabled the MTR on Thursday. "Are you saying that the PM's speech was incomplete?" he said but Pandikar Amin refused to take the bait of Mahfuz’s fishing expedition.

But from there on, all of Pandikar Amin’s efforts to instruct Najib to start addressing the House fell into a vortex of Opposition whirlpool where at one stage, Dr Dzulkifli Ahmad (Pas-Kuala Selangor) told the Speaker he must offer a good reason for allowing Najib floor time. "You have not told us a reason for allowing this. Give us one good reason," beseeched Dr Dzulkifli.

Pandikar Amin ignored the Opposition’s escalating entreaty and still repeated his call that Najib proceed, only for Karpal to interfere as he quoted the British House of Commons convention and practice that if anyone should be allowed to make a ministerial statement, it should be the PM. "That is the House of Commons practise. Should not the Prime Minister be making the statement?" Karpal asked.

It was probably exasperating for Pandikar Amin to sound like a broken vinyl record but he duly repeated his earlier statement that he was using his discretion to allow Najib floor time. "I look at the conventions in Commonwealth countries when I make my decisions. Not just one country. I have to think of everyone's interest," he sighed.

Sensing finally that the Speaker, putting his authoritative weight on the issue, was not going to budge, the Opposition finally relented and waited for the Speaker to instruct Najib to speak. However, when Najib rose to begin his address, Kit, like the great tribal chief that he is, signalled his braves to walk out of the House, muttering that it was pointless to stay inside the House.

Predictably, the BN backbenchers reacted to the affront with loud jeers but the Pakatan Rakyat MPs refuse to be drawn into a reaction and walked out silently, smiling and grinning at the contrived procedural fuss they had triggered.

Opposition not impressed

The Star (27/6/08): Lim Kit Siang (DAP – Ipoh Timor) said the Ninth Malaysia Plan should have been drafted to re-inspire Malaysians after the March 8 political tsunami.

“The Government is supposed to understand the needs of the people and lead them towards new economic heights but I don’t think it has been able to fulfil that,” he said.

Opposition leader Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (PKR - Permatang Pauh) said the mid-term review was nothing new because the Barisan Nasional government was contradicting itself when implementing its policies.

“The Prime Minister said he had to raise the prices of fuel and gas, but that it would not burden the lower income group.

“This is just not possible,” she said.

Dr Wan Azizah said she understood that the subsidy system was not sustainable in the long term but there were other ways of cutting the subsidy.

“It can be carried out in stages. We are an oil-exporting country and therefore, we can manage it better,” she said.

Tan Seng Giaw (DAP - Kepong) said the Government should carry on with projects such as the Penang Outer Ring Road (PORR) in its move to improve the public transportation system.

“I don’t understand why the PORR project has been delayed when the Government keeps emphasising that it wants to upgrade the public transportation system whereby RM30bil has already been allocated for that purpose,” he said.

PAS secretary-general Datuk Kamaruddin Jaffar (PAS-Tumpat) said the mid-term review was far below expectations.

“We expect the Prime Minister to come out with concrete and new proposals to solve the pressing economic problems and hardships the rakyat is facing, stemming from the rising costs of food and other stuff.

“This had been made worse by the Government’s decision to raise petrol and diesel prices to record levels - at 41% and 63% respectively,” he said.