Youthful novice ridiculed

Malay Mail (30/5/08): Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Sulaiman Rahman Abdul Ta ib (BN-Kota Samarahan), the son of Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, demonstrated in the House yesterday that youth alone was not necessarily an asset for a politician.

Speaking on behalf of his absent minister, the 39-yearold former chairman of RHB lurched from sentence to sentence, and often even word to word, in a speech that was matched only by his own dismal stutterings in the Senate a few days earlier.

To be fair, Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said (BN-Penggerang) had no business leaving this section of the Supplementary Supply Bill debate in the hands of a consummate political and oratorical novice - knowing full well that Pas and PKR frontbenchers were still upset over her recent remarks in the House.

Indeed, the Opposition lost little time continuing its counterstrike: Did electoral vengeance motivate the minister’s decision to terminate tourism memoranda of understanding with Pakatan Rakyat states? Could the minister prove that the Kelantan government was responsible for not paying staff of the state’s Tourism Action Council? Failing to reckon with the fact that the deceptively mild Datuk Abdul Halim Abdul Rahman (Pas-Pengakalan Chepa) was once Kelantan Deputy Menter i Besar , Sulaiman’s ingenuous argument crumbled instantly under a relentless barrage of facts and figures.

And he really had only one argument against them, that of denial: “Oh no, the government wants to co-operate with all states for the betterment of Malaysian tourism.” This provoked instant ridicule.

Even Jeff Ooi (DAPJelutong), whose performance in the House so far has been disappointing, saw the opportunity to redeem himself by firing a well-timed broadside.

Sulaiman then proceeded to restate the minister’s controversial positions, obviously unaware that this would do nothing but benefit the Opposition. Salahuddin Ayub (Pas-Kubang Kerian) cried “lies!” with glee, and there was nothing Sulaiman could do about it.

The embattled deputy minister then elicited no sympathy by whimpering and producing the alarmingly unimaginative “but that’s wrong” - used about a dozen times against the Opposition in under a minute, hoping vainly that the "bullies" would leave him alone.

At last, he began gazing forlornly at the deputy chairman, Datuk Ronald Kiandee (the House was sitting as a committee then), and when no help came, Sulaiman began grovelling: “Oh, but if I were to answer these questions there won’t be enough time before lunch for me to finish.” Salahuddin was still crying “lies” from the other side, and was enjoying himself too much to stop. This seemed to put Kiandee in a mischievous mood, and he replied with a perfectly straight face: “But there’s time after lunch.” Sulaiman’s salvation came in the form of the alternate deputy chairman, Datuk Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, who realised after the break that the members were in for another long sitting - and so cut short the debate.

“You had better give them written replies,” Wan Junaidi said, and Sulaiman found some renewed confidence in himself.

Unfortunately he bungled again a few minutes later when, obviously elated by the end of the inquisition, he confused the word “written” for “oral” and told Opposition he would respond “secara lisan” (verbal reply). Hoots and jeers.

The first sitting of Parliament adjourned sine die yesterday.

The second sitting is scheduled for the end of June, at which time this sketch will resume. (U-En Ng)

Newbie Sulaiman fumbles with his words

The Sun (29/5/08): Deputy Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Abdul Taib gave a very bad first impression in Parliament today when he fumbled with his words to answer questions on the RM10 million being allocated for the State Tourism Action Council (MTPN).

At one point, he was even "helped" by another BN MP from Sarawak, Norah Abdul Rahman (BN-Tanjong Manis) who said she wanted to provide some information to Sulaiman on one of the issues raised.

This prompted Tian Chua (PKR-Batu) to quip: "You want to help out the new (deputy) minister, eh?"

Winding-up debates for the item under the Supplementary Supply Bill, Sulaiman was flooded with questions from the Opposition MPs on a point raised by Minister Datuk Azalina Othman Said last week in which the MPs tried to refer her to the Committee of Privileges.

Azmin Ali (PKR-Gombak) said he was not satisfied with Azalina's clarification on signature tourism events being dropped in Pakatan Rakyat (PR) states.

"The MTPN which is meant to promote tourism at state level is used by the ministry for political revenge," he said, adding he wanted the Dewan to record the explanation given by Azalina to him in the parliament lounge on May 20.

Sulaiman clarified the calendar events were not dropped as the minutes of a meeting dated March 26 quoted by Azmin has been cancelled and replaced by another dated April 1.

While seemingly stuttered in forming his sentences, he went on to say the ministry was willing to cooperate with PR states, therefore the accusations that it has neglected tourism in the five states were untrue.

"The ministry wants tourists to come to the whole of Malaysia, anywhere in the country. Previously, we had promoted Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Langkawi. At that time, we should have focused on enhancing (world's) knowledge about Malaysia.

"But, if we were to promote the whole country, it would be difficult for the foreign tourists to focus. So, we had focused on destinations which are easier to be promoted and highly beneficial to the country," he said.

Later, when he repeated his readiness to work together with all state governments, irrespective of the ruling party, Datuk Abdul Halim Abdul Rahman (PAS-Pengkalan Chepa) stood up to ask for an explanation on Azalina’s statement last week.

She had said the Kelantan state government had failed to pay MTPN officers three months salary in 2002 but Abdul Halim said the pay was the responsibility of the federal government.

To this, Sulaiman read out quickly a prepared statement on the chronology of events from the MoU signed between the ministry and Kelantan in February 2002, to set up the MTPN until Jan 2003 when Kelantan had to refund the RM2 million given following the cancellation of the MoU in Oct 2002.

He said the MoU was cancelled because the state government did not follow the right procedure in the appointment of MTPN chairman, and during this process, the MTPN staff were deprived of their three-month pay.

Abdul Halim who was Deputy Mentri Besar at that time said Kelantan did not agree with the chairman picked by the ministry as he was an Umno member and argued that the selection of chairman should be the prerogative of the state government.

Opposition MPs twice tried to refer Azalina to Committee of Privileges

The Sun (20/5/08): Opposition MPs twice called for Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said to be referred to the Committee of Privileges while winding up the debate for her ministry in Parliament today.

Azalina first riled Opposition members when she said the signature events in the Opposition-led states were dropped because of a negative experience in Kelantan before.

"We have experienced it in Kelantan, whereby the staff of the State Tourism Action Council (MPTN) were not paid (their salary) for three months," she said to a point raised by Mohd Azmin Ali (PKR-Gombak).

She then told Nga Kor Ming (DAP-Taiping), who said she should have displayed a more respected political maturity, that the decision was made because of the contradicting policies between those practised by the federal and state governments.

This prompted shouts of protests from Opposition MPs like M. Kulasegaran (DAP-Ipoh Barat) and N. Gobalakrishnan (PKR-Padang Serai) and many of them stood up to argue, including Nga and Mohd Azmin.

However, Azalina continued with her speech despite the noise in the background coming from both MPs and Deputy Speaker Datuk Ronald Kiandee who repeatedly asked them to take their seats as the minister did not wish to give way.

Later, Datuk Wan Abdul Rahim Wan Abdullah (PAS-Kota Baru) raised a point of order, saying Azalina had used impolite words when she said the PAS-led Kelantan government had not paid the salary of MPTN staff for three months.

"I would like to state here, there has never been an incident where PAS did not pay their salary," he said, to be corrected by Kiandee that it does not constitute an impolite language as stated in the Standing Order.

Azalina then explained that she was informed about this by a ministry officer and promised she will write a reply to Wan Abdul Rahim and stressed that she will not withdraw what she has said.

She then said the Barisan Nasional (BN) government does not discriminate Opposition-led states, saying under the 9th Malaysia Plan, some RM980,000 has been allocated for various tourism programmes in Kelantan.

Mohd Azmin then stood up to raise Article 36(12) and 26(1)(p), suggesting that Azalina be referred to the committee because she has confused the House and he said he has black and white proof to support his argument.

"I have proof that on March 25, 2008, the Tourism Minister decided for programmes under the signature events to be dropped and she had instructed the people concerned not to include them in their calendar of events or other promotional activities.

"But now, she is saying they were not dropped. She must be referred to the committee as she has confused the House," he said, followed by Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur) who stood up to second the proposal.

According to Article 36(12), any member who gave statements that mislead the House is deemed to be in contempt of the House and the member may be referred to the committee for the offence.

And under 26(1)(p), a motion relating to a matter of privilege does not need a notice to be proposed, unless provided otherwise by the Standing Order.

However, Kiandee said there is no need for her to be referred to the committee as the situation did not reach to that extent.

Mohd Azmin disagreed, saying a decision should be made by way of a ballot and the Speaker does not have to apply his discretion. This was supported by Fong Po Kuan (DAP-Batu Gajah).

Later, after the lunch break, when Azalina continued with her speech, Wan Abdul Rahim stood up again to say he has checked the fact with five relevant persons in Kelantan and found that MPTN staff are actually paid by the federal government and not state government.

He also questioned Azalina’s statement as the incident happened in 2002 while she only held the position for two months, adding Azalina should be referred to the committee.

However, Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia ruled that the matter was considered hearsay as both had different arguments, therefore, he asked both Azalina and Wan Abdul Rahim to write to the Speaker to explain their points.

Azalina comes under fire for ending tourism pact

NST (21/5/08): Opposition MPs trained their guns on Tourism Minister Datuk Azalina Othman Said yesterday over the termination of the memorandums of understanding on tourism in the five Pakatan Rakyat-ruled states.

But despite the onslaught, she proved her mettle by not giving way to M. Kulasegaran (DAP-Ipoh Barat) or Azmin Ali (PKR-Gombak) who led the charge.

The mercury rose during her winding-up on points raised by MPs on the motion of thanks to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong for his Royal Address.

Azalina began by saying that the MoU were terminated because of differences in policy approach and implementation of tourism programmes between the federal government and the five respective state governments.

She added that the Kelantan government had not paid the salary of three tourism officials following the completion of a tourism programme in the state.
This led to howls of protests from opposition MPs, who also disagreed with her statement that the BN government did not practise discrimination nor end tourism programmes which were beneficial.

She said the federal government also did not stop state officers from carrying out their duties.

"We did not do like what Perak did," she said, which raised the hackles of opposition MPs who jumped to their feet to castigate her for the remark.

There were a few moments of utter confusion as Deputy Speaker Datuk Ronald Kiandee tried to placate opposition MPs who wanted to speak.

"Please Yang Berhormat, sit down. The minister does not want to give way," he said.

A defiant Azalina added that she had replied to queries from the opposition on the matter.

To this, Kulasegaran cited a point of order that she could not have replied as she had been reading from a prepared text.

"That does not go against the standing order," said a flustered Kiandee.

Kulasegaran, however, did not give in, adding that Azalina also did not properly explain the reasons behind the termination of the MoU.

"She only did not give way ... that is her right (not to explain)," Kiandee said.

At this juncture, Datuk Wan Rahim Wan Abdullah (Pas-Kota Baru) joined the fray by demanding an explanation from Azalina over her earlier reply that Kelantan did not pay the officers for three months.

"There is no such thing. Please explain," he said.

Azalina said officials from her ministry had told her about the matter.

As Wan Rahim sought further clarification, Kiandee said Azalina was not bound by the standing order to reply to the Pas MP.

At this point, Azmin Ali (PKR-Gombak) rose to file a motion to refer Azalina to the Rights and Privileges Committee for allegedly misleading the house with her answer on the termination of the MoU.

He said Azalina's answer on the issue did not address the reasons behind the decision to cancel tourism promotion and campaigns in the five states.

"The programmes are not listed in the calendar of events and the website of the ministry," he said.

Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur) seconded Azmin's motion.

Kiandee, however, said there was no need to refer Azalina to the committee.

Datuk Sirigan Gubat (BN-Ranau) stood up to defend Azalina, saying that standing order 43 of the Dewan Rakyat stated that the speaker's decision was final in the matter.

Kiandee then overruled Lim's and N. Gobalakrishnan's (PKR-Padang Serai) objections that MPs had the final say on the motion and ordered proceedings to continue.

Azalina just makes it to answer a question

The Star (21/5/08): The Government bloc narrowly escaped embarrassment when Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said managed to slip into the Dewan at the last minute to take a question.

Norah Abd Rahman (BN – Tanjong Manis) had stood to ask an original question when the MPs realised that neither the minister nor deputy were present to answer.

At this point, Mahfuz Omar (PAS – Pokok Sena) stood up as a low rumbling of “mana mentri?” (where is the minister?) sounded from the Opposition bloc.

However, Azalina was then seen running into the Dewan, leading to Mahfuz to comment that he “was about to reply on the ministry’s behalf.”

Replying to Norah, Azalina said the number of foreign tourists who visited Sarawak last year had increased by 19.9% compared

to 2006. “Some 2.43 million people visited Sarawak last year,” she said.

Meanwhile, Opposition MPs failed to cite Azalina to be referred to the Committee of Privileges twice for apparently “misleading the House” in her reply while winding up the debate on the motion of thanks on the royal address.

Azalina had chided Azmin Ali (PRK – Gombak) for alleging that tourism activities in Opposition-led states were not supported by the ministry.

However, Azmin read out a memorandum that tourism offices in these states – Perak, Penang, Selangor, Kelantan and Kedah – were instructed to drop signature events and were also not included in the calendar of events.

Azmin, supported by Lim Kit Siang (DAP – Ipoh Timur) then said MPs should be allowed to vote for a proposal to have Azalina referred to the Committee of Privileges for misleading the House.

Deputy Speaker Datuk Ronald Kiandee ruled that Azalina was still replying and that she had not reached the stage for a referral.

When she resumed her reply in the afternoon, Datuk Wan Abd Rahiman Abdullah (PAS – Kota Baru) stood up to cite Azalina to be referred to the same committee again over her reply that tourism officers from Kelantan had not been paid for three months.

Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia ruled for both parties to submit a written reply on the matter

Govt aware of complaints against Streamyx

KUALA LUMPUR (20/5/08): The Government is well aware of public complaints about the level of service provided by TM Net through its Streamyx broadband.

Deputy Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Joseph Salang Gandum said this was the reason why the Government decided to go ahead with the RM15.6bil project to install copper wires for broadband access.

"At present, 48% of households in the country are capable of hooking up to broadband service in the country but many choose not to," he told Lim Guan Eng (DAP - Bagan) on Tuesday at Dewan Rakyat.

Lim had complained that although Streamyx often advertised broadband access of up to 1 Gigabit per second, the service was often slow.

"As at December last year, there are 1,485 Wi-Fi spots in the country. Penetration for dial-up and broadband access per 100 households is 14.3% and 15.5% respectively," he told Mohd Firdaus Jaafar (BN - Jerai).

Saved the blushes

The Government bloc narrowly escaped embarrassment when Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said managed to slip into Dewan at the last minute to answer a question.

Norah Abd Rahman (BN - Tanjong Manis) had stood up to ask an original question when the Dewan realised neither the minister nor the deputy was present to take it.

At this point, Mahfuz Omar (PAS - Pokok Sena) stood up as a low rumbling of "Mana Menteri?" (where is the minister?) sounded from the Opposition block.

However, Azalina was then seen running into the Dewan, leading to Mahfuz to comment that he "was going to reply on the ministry's behalf".

The minister then told Norah that the number of tourists who visited Sarawak last year had increased by 19.9% compared to 2006.

"Some 2.43mil people visited Sarawak last year," she said.

On the other end of the spectrum, Deputy Speaker Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar announced that Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting (BN - Kulai) had requested for leave of absence from the Dewan.

"Yang Berhormat has to attend his father-in-law's funeral. So, question No. 9 will not be fielded today," he said.

Ong had wanted to ask the Education Ministry on its proposal to give a fairer amount of financial allocation to schools based on their needs.

What’s the party got to do with it?

The Star (1/5/08): The other day, a friend of mine asked me to write a blurb for his new book. It is an honour of course to be asked to do that. A demanding honour, because you have to read an entire book and then try to write about it in one paragraph, but it is an honour nonetheless.

But what if the book is really crap? What do you do? After all, this is your friend you are talking about, and he has asked you to help him by endorsing his work. How do you deal with having to do something unpleasant to someone you like?

Alternatively, sometimes you have to do something positive for someone you personally can’t stand. To separate the personal from the professional is a hard thing to do. But ethics and professionalism demand it.

In Malaysian politics, this does not seem to be the case. There is confusion on the difference between party political interests and the interests of society. And the best interest of society is what good governance is about.

Take Penang, for example. The Tourism Minister has decided to dissolve the Penang Tourism Action Council (PTAC) and reconstitute a new one. The difference between the two is that the new PTAC has no state government representative.

It appears that the Tourism Ministry will only work with the state government if the latter is in Barisan Nasional hands. This was illustrated during the minister’s visit to Penang a little while ago when there was no involvement with the state government at all.

It would seem, therefore, that the PTAC and the Tourism Ministry want to have nothing to do with the state authorities.

So now the state Cabinet has a tourism portfolio and the Federal Government has the PTAC. I am not sure how having two tourism bodies not working in tandem is going to help Penang.

Perhaps the minister has a cunning plan to somehow make it all work. Or perhaps this is just a way of putting Barisan Nasional interests above the country’s interests by making sure that the DAP state government faces as many obstacles as possible.

After all, when the tourism players get confused as to which body they have to turn to, it would be very convenient to lay the blame on the “incompetent” state exco.

I should not be surprised, really. The minister is the same person who defended the stopping of oil royalty payments to Terengganu when the state fell into PAS hands by saying that the situation was equivalent to not being nice to a lover who has rejected you. A very personal analogy for a very public issue.

Further down south, there is a big hoo-ha about the First Wives Club, or Balkis or whatever it is called. While the legality of the transfer of Balkis funds and the request to disband it are debated, it would be interesting to wonder why they did such a thing in the first place.

Balkis, a body consisting of the wives of the Selangor state exco members, has the primary objective of doing community work. All very noble, certainly.

However, I did not realise that you had to be the wife of a Barisan Nasional state exco member in order to do good work. If that was the case, then perhaps it should have been made clear that this organisation was limited only to Barisan wives.

But then when one’s husband has been boasting about expunging the Opposition from the state completely, it is easy to forget that in a democracy, political parties win and they also can lose.

It all looks very childish to me. Like the spoilt kid who takes away the ball when his team is trailing.

Balkis is a charitable organisation. It is supposed to be peopled by the wives of Selangor legislators. The institution is what is important, not the people who make it up.

If the new bunch of wives can’t do the job properly, expose them and shame them and maybe that will cause the downfall of their husbands. Then your own handsome men can come back and you can continue where you left off.

Institutions should not be confused with the personalities that people them. Those who by the rules of the institution could be there are the ones who should be there. Unless otherwise stated, their political affiliations should not matter.

Back up the North-South Expressway, we see this confusion affecting the appointment of Datuk Lee Kah Choon, ex-Gerakan strongman, as director of the Penang Development Corporation and the executive chairman of InvestPenang.

Both are bodies concerned with the economic development of Penang and both are under the control of the state government. A great hue and cry rose up from both sides of the political divide.

The ex-president of Gerakan foamed in the mouth as he normally does, and even the mighty Lion of Jelutong (or wherever he is now) raised his mighty head to roar disapproval.

Lee is working for the state government (albeit he is getting paid nothing), and that makes him a servant of the people.

Sure, the state government is now run by the DAP, but this does not detract from the fact that his new job is to serve the people of Penang.

Just because his political affiliation differs from that of the ruling party, it does not mean he should not be allowed to do the work he is entrusted with.

If that were the case, all the state government civil servants in the five Pakatan Rakyat states who are Umno, MIC or MCA members should resign because their political views differ from those of their new bosses.

What Lim Guan Eng is doing is risky. Not because Lee is an ex-Gerakan man, but because he is unproven in the field of economic development. That should be the people’s concern.

The right thing to do in this country is to see everyone working for the interests of the nation in tandem.

Politics is one thing and it is an important thing. It is a creature borne of necessity in large modern societies, and it is through politics that we choose our leaders.

But cheap politicking should have nothing to do with the way we run the country.