Some 80 Pakatan Rakyat Members of PKR, PAS and DAP staged a “walk out” of the Dewan Rakyat this morning in protest against the reckless disregard of parliamentary practices, procedures and rules when despite strong opposition protests, Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak was allowed to misuse Standing Order 14 (1)(i) to make a “ministerial statement” on his support of the Report of the Mid-Term Review of the Ninth Malaysia Plan.
The “ministerial statement” by Najib should be made by the Deputy Prime Minister when he seconded the motion of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on the Ninth Malaysia Plan Mid-Term Review in the Dewan Rakyat last Thursday.
For reasons best known to Najib, the Deputy Prime Minister did not say anything when he stood up to second the Prime Minister’s speech.
Having missed the opportunity to present his views on the Ninth Malaysia Plan Mid-Term Review when seconding the Prime Minister’s motion, Najib is trying to have a second bite of the cherry by giving a Ministerial statement on the Mid-Term Review, through a gross abuse of the parliamentary standing orders.
It sets a most dangerous precedent that the government front-benchers can abuse the standing orders at their whim and fancy.
The purpose of a “ministerial statement” is not to allow a Minister to have a second bite of the cherry when he missed the opportunity to give a speech when seconding the Prime Minister’s motion last Thursday but to state the government position on various policies, proposals or developments.
A proper subject for ministerial statement today would be the government’s position on Anwar Ibrahim’s plight, where a former Deputy Prime Minister had to seek sanctuary in the Turkish Embassy in Malaysia for fear of his personal safety.
Earlier, during question time, the DAP MP for Puchong, Gobind Singh Deo was suspended from Parliament for two days by the Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin over his supplementary question to his own question on “build-and-sell” housing proposal.
Substantive motions will be submitted to Parliament to review the Speaker’s decision on the Chair’s allowing Najib to misuse Standing Orders to make a ministerial statement on the Ninth Malaysia Plan Mid-Term Review when he should have given the speech when seconding the motion and the two-day suspension from Parliament of Gobind.