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Nazri will not be referred to Privileges Committee |
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Tuesday, 25 November 2008 06:08pm |
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 ©Bernama
(Used by permission)
KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 25, 2008) : Datuk Seri Mohammed Nazri Abdul Aziz will not be
referred to Parliament's Rights and Privileges Committee for making a false
statement in the Dewan Rakyat as the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department
did not deliberately mislead the House, Deputy Speaker Datuk Dr Wan Junaidi
Tuanku Jaafar ruled today.
The decision drew the ire of Opposition MPs to the point Wan Zunaidi had to
suspend Gobind Singh Deo (DAP-Puchong) for two days for creating a ruckus about
it.
"I arrived at my decision based on three factors, namely if the statement by the
minister was misleading; if the minister knew it was misleading and thirdly if
he had intended to mislead the House.
"My conclusion is that the minister made an error on facts and in my opinion, it
is not appropriate for him to be referred to the Rights and Privileges
Committee," said Wan Junaidi.
Nazri, when briefing the House during an earlier sitting on ex-gratia payments
made by the government to judges sacked during the 1988 judicial crisis, had
inadvertently told the MPs that the judges were asked to go on early retirement
and were not sacked.
Dissatisfied opposition members, led by Karpal Singh (DAP-Bukit Gelugor), and
Salahuddin Ayub (PAS-Kubang Kerian), wanted Mohammed Nazri to apologise to the
House for the mistake.
This led to a war of words between the Opposition MPs and Backbenchers who asked
Wan Zunaidi to ignore their demand as the decision by the Deputy Speaker was
final.
Gobind, who was seated opposite Mohammed Nazri, then got into the act and made a
direct demand to the minister to apologise, claiming the Deputy Speaker seemed
bent on protecting him.
When he repeatedly disregarded Wan Zunaidi's order to retract what he had said,
Wan Zunaidi initially ordered that he be suspended for four days.
However, Gobind was defiant and refused to leave the House.
With the situation getting out of hand, Wan Junaidi then decided that Gobind be
suspended for two days.
Gobind then left the House.
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This, alas, is the standard to which our Malaysian Parliament has descended.
The decision of the Speaker means that from now on, Malaysians whenever reading ministerial statements made even in our august legislative chamber must ask three questions:
Firstly, whether the statement by the minister was misleading;
Secondly, if so, whether the minister knew it was misleading; and,
Thirdly, if so whether he had intended to mislead the House.
This is the kind of inquiry that can be imposed on "subjects" of Third World contries.
Never mind how Malaysians are going to determine whether any Minister is out to mislead the House.
Maybe, we Malaysians need to consult the "datuk" under the tree!
Stephen Tan Ban Cheng