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©The Sun (Used by permission)
by Zainon Ahmad

What saved the week from being the most boring was the excitement caused by rain dripping through the ceiling and the uproar over a remark related to the incident that was deemed sexist.

THE most notable quality of this week’s meeting was its sheer tedium.

Being an extension of the scheduled March 19 to April 26 meeting (and there were no sittings last week because of the holidays), there was no question time – an exciting part of most days’ business.

Because it was decided in late April that the meeting had to be extended by a week for the passage of several bills deemed urgent by the government, there was insufficient time for members to serve notice of their questions.

Debates on some of the bills, such as the one on the National Higher Education Fund Corporation – where defaulting borrowers would have their passports seized – took about three days while the debate on the Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia (Amendment) Bill 2007 was over in just hours.

The front benches were mostly empty throughout the week as the most equal among their occupants left it to their lesser equals to represent the respective ministries. Some deputy ministers and parliamentary secretaries were a credit to their ministries.

What saved the week from being the most boring was the excitement caused by rain dripping through the ceiling – yet again – during the storm on Wednesday and the subsequent uproar over a remark related to the incident that was deemed sexist and insensitive.

Parliamentary secretary Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahya, the most visible Finance Ministry representative in Parliament, was rounding up on points raised during the debate on the Excise (Amendment) Bill 2007 when Fong Po Kuan (DAPBatu Gajah) pointed to water dripping from the ceiling.

She said the millions spent renovating the parliament building three years ago and the thousands spent after water came gushing down into the House two years ago was money down the drain.

Datuk Bung Moktar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan), who saw the remark as an attempt to sully the BN government’s integrity, stood up and asked Fong where the leak was, adding, albeit metaphorically, that she too had monthly leaks.

Before a storm could erupt in the House, Speaker Tan Sri Ramli Ngah Talib adjourned the sitting, but he merely postponed the inevitable. On Thursday, Fong lashed out.

Several other moments also made those in Parliament hold their breath. For instance, M. Kulasegaran (DAP-Ipoh Barat) on Tuesday asked whether a part of the parliament compound was going to be used as a motorcar showroom for MPs to view new models.

Evidently peeved by the question, Ramli said it was hogwash, adding that he knew nothing about it.

The opposition MP then irked Hilmi when he demanded an answer to a previous day’s question about a newspaper not paying its employees’ EPF contributions.

At first, Hilmi said there was no such thing, but after being informed by his officials, he later agreed there was. He, however, said the paper had submitted the contributions to the EPF.

When the persistent Kulasegaran said the newspaper company, linked to a politician, should be penalised for delaying payments, Hilmi said he would look into the matter.

Question time is undoubtedly the most exciting part of any day’s sitting in most legislatures. Under Ramli, it has been extended from half an hour to one-and-a-half hours.

Previous speakers would read out the MP’s full name and constituency when asking him or her for his or her question as a way to honour the MP while indicating a new question was being asked.

Generally, the original questions, which are submitted beforehand, are less brilliant than the follow-up ones. A minister merely reads out a prepared answer to the original question. But it is in responding to follow up questions that some ministers or their representatives
fumble.

On March 28, Teng Boon Soon (BN-Tebrau) made it obvious he was so obsessed with the supplementary question he wanted to ask, and had probably rehearsed asking it several times, that when the speaker signalled to him to ask his question, he blurted out the entire question instead of merely saying: “Mr Speaker, Sir, Question 13.”

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