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Parliament on fire? DR House Committee must come out of hibernation

The Dewan Rakyat House Committee under the chairmanship of the Speaker should come out of its hibernation and hold an emergency meeting to take ownership of the many deplorable problems of Parliament House to address and resolve them.

There is a proposal that the Public Works Department should be responsible for the maintenance of Parliament House. This seems to be a sensible proposal but the decision should first be made by the House Committee which is responsible for ensuring that MPs enjoy proper facilities to enable to function properly, before the matter is taken to the Cabinet for endorsement.

Cabinet Ministers must learn to understand the meaning of parliamentary autonomy and independence as well as the doctrine of separation of powers among the Executive, Parliament and the Judiciary.

Works Minister, Datuk Seri Samy Vellu said that the PWD had carried out a lot of repairs on the building but there was recurring damage owing to absence of maintenance.

For instance, he said, each time the clothes hangers on the toilet doors were replaced, they went missing.

This is indeed most shameful, as it is most unthinkable that such gross indiscipline and thievery should be so rife in Parliament House, which should be the heart of a national campaign to fulfill the dream of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to have “First World Infrastructure, First World Mentality” in Malaysia. Continue reading “Parliament on fire? DR House Committee must come out of hibernation”

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Chia Kwang Chye should not condone the sexism of Mohd Said and Bung Mokhtar

Gerakan Secretary-General and Deputy Information Minister, Datuk Seri Chia Kwang Chye, should not condone the two sexist Barisan Nasional (BN) MPs, Datuk Mohd Said Yusof (Jasin) and Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin (Kinabatangan) for their incorrigible sexism in Parliament if he dare not openly castigate the duo for their dishonesty and fake apologies to bring about a dishonourable closure to the nation-wide furore over their crude, derogatory, sexist and gender-offensive remarks in Parliament last week.

Chia said yesterday that as Mohd Said and Bung Mohtar have apologized, everybody should stop raising the issue anymore. (Guanming).

This is most shocking and shows that one of the problems of Barisan Nasional leaders when they become Ministers or Deputy Ministers is their surrender of the sense of justice and their faculties to differentiate between right from wrong.

Surely, Chia is aware of the patent dishonesty of the duo in making fake apologies which compounded the original offence they committed, and which cannot be accepted at all by right-thinking and justice-loving Malaysians.

I would urge Chia to reconsider what he said yesterday and openly withdraw his statement asking everyone to stop pursuing the issue purportedly on the ground that the apologies of the two are acceptable.

Just imagine what would have happened if it was a DAP MP who made the crude, derogatory, sexist and gender-offensive remarks against a woman BN MP. There is no doubt that he would have been referred immediately to the Committee of Privileges and a severe punishment of one to two years suspension without allowance would have been meted out unless a full, unconditional and acceptable apology is tendered — and I would say, rightly too! Continue reading “Chia Kwang Chye should not condone the sexism of Mohd Said and Bung Mokhtar”

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Rakyat who have made Bangsa Malaysia a reality…

by SK Chua

As a true blue Malaysian born and bred here all my 55 years, I have no doubt that this is the country for me and for my kids.

I was 17 years old and in the hometown of Pontian, Johor when the May 13 incident happened. Our parents’ only concern at that time was my elder brother’s safety in Ceras at the Technical Teachers’ Training College (fondly known as T3C).

Back then there was no email and our parents had to wait for him to call back the next day to tell us he was safe. He told us there was no problem at all at the dormitory and that all students, Malays, Indian and Chinese were like a family to one another and he could not assure us enough that whatever was happening out there was not going to affect their closeness under the same roof.

We believed him. Even in Pontian, we had neighbours and friends of different race and faith living next to each other but we never looked at one another as adversary. Continue reading “Rakyat who have made Bangsa Malaysia a reality…”

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Parliament as “House of Leaks” – heads must roll in PWD and Works Ministry, or Samy’s head should roll

Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has asked the Public Works Department (PWD) to explain to the Cabinet on why no request was made for allocations to repair the roof when Parliament House underwent an extensive RM90 million renovation in 2005.

Four questions immediately come to mind:

Firstly, will the reference to the Cabinet of the scandal of Parliament as “House of Leaks” end up as unsatisfactorily as last week’s reference to it of the outrage of sexism in Parliament where two Barisan Nasional (BN) MPs, Datuk Mohd Said Yusof (Jasin) and Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin (Kinabatangan) made crude, derogatory, sexist and gender-offensive remarks in Parliament last week, bringing shame and dishonour to DAP MP for Batu Gajah, Fong Po Kuan, Parliament, Malaysian women and the nation’s international reputation — resulting in fake apologies which are really no apologies at all?

Secondly, why the extraordinary departure from the principle of Ministerial responsibility with PWD going over the head of the Works Minister to report directly to the Cabinet, when such a report is customarily and by convention made to the Cabinet by the Minister responsible for the department, namely Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu as Works Minister?

Has the Cabinet has lost all confidence in the capability of Samy Vellu to perform effectively as the Works Minister and to bear full and direct responsibility for PWD in Cabinet, especially as Samy Vellu’s is completing his 20 years as Works Minister in shame and ignominy with a helter-skelter of collapse of government buildings and public constructions, whether falling ceilings, cracked walls, air-conditioning breakdowns or power disruptions in spanking brand new buildings or renovations costing hundreds of millions of ringgit!

Or is Samy Vellu utterly fed up with the disgraceful performance of PWD and he is washing his hands to dissociate himself from its failings, leaving PWD to directly explain to the Cabinet on the latest scandal of Parliament as the “House of Leaks”?

Whatever the reason, the time has come for the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to terminate Samy Vellu’s long tenure as Cabinet Minister, spanning 27 years and six months, with 20 years as Works Minister short of five months. Continue reading “Parliament as “House of Leaks” – heads must roll in PWD and Works Ministry, or Samy’s head should roll”