8 motions to dock ministers’ salaries next week

S Pathmawathy
Malaysiakini
Nov 27, 10

Several opposition parliamentarians have vented their displeasure at certain targeted ministers and two high ranking civil servant by filing motions to slash their salaries by RM10. One was RM100, the set limit.

The current parliament sitting saw eight pay-cut motions being tabled, several being high-profile ministries.

So far two such motions filed by Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur) had named attorney-general (AG) Abdul Gani Patail and Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief commissioner Abu Kassim, both shot down by the Dewan Rakyat.

Lim’s motion against Abdul Gani claimed that the AG stood accused of fabricating evidence in Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim’s “black eye” case in 1998.

Meanwhile, he wanted the House to punish Abu Kassim (below) because for the last 16 years Malaysia’s score had been the worst in Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index for the Asia-Pacific region.

“It’s my impression that the these are the highest number of salary deduction motions in one sitting,” said Lim, a veteran legislator.

The sitting is now debating the next Budget or Supply Bill 2011 is in its committee stage, so the remaining six motions filed under Standing Orders 66(9) will be dealt with from next week.

According to accepted practice these motions ultimately mean a vote of no confidence in the ability of the respective ministers.

They are expected to be reply to the allegations and questions raised impromptu which must be resolved before the respective ministers can proceed to wrap up their arguments on other questions raised during the debate.

Defence Ministry

Ipoh Barat parliamentarian M Kulasegaran, affronted by Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s comment that non-Malays are *uninterested in joining the armed forces because they lack patriotism, insisted that the baseless remark must be explained.

He had stirred up a storm when he said that non-Malays lacked a sense of patriotism, in defending his reason for the low number of non-Malay recruits in the military.

Tourism Ministry

Minister Ng Yen Yen, had come under fire for her exorbitant travel expanses and several language booboos in tourism promotional brochures that were distributed overseas.

It was reported that the ministry has spent 40 percent more for its minister’s travels, while the expenditure for activities to promote tourism had dropped to70 percent.

Tian Chua (PKR-Batu) had asked for a breakdown of the expenses incurred by Ng and her officers’ work excursions locally and abroad as well as the cost of promoting Malaysia locally and overseas.

Clearly unhappy with the explanation that was provided by Deputy Minister James Dawos Mamit, Tian had filed the motion last week going for the maximum cut of RM100 from Ng’s (left) salary.

Works Ministry

Shah Alam PAS MP Khalid Samad is expected to bring up the delay in the construction of the new Shah Alam Nospital which was initially scheduled for completion in November 2011.

Minister Shaziman Abu Mansor had explained that only after the Public Works Department (PWD) had completed the re-tendering of the project would construction could restart.

The PWD had terminated the services of main contractor Sunshine Fleet Sdn Bhd on Sept 3, after it had fallen considerably behind schedule.

Energy, Green Technology and Water

Selangor which is caught in an ongoing tussle among water players Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas), Puncak Niaga Sdn Bhd (PNSB), Syarikat Pengeluaran Air Sungai Selangor Sdn Bhd (Splash) and Konsortium ABASS is probably Kuala Selangor PAS MP Dzulkefly Ahmad’s main contention against Minister Peter Chin Fah Kui.

Main concessionaire Saybas has threatened to drag the state to court for refusing to allow tariff hikes in accordance with an agreement struck with the previous BN government.

However, the Selangor government has refused to allow this while frustrating federal goverment attempts to take over its water assets as part of a nationwide effort to federalise water management under the National Water Services Commission Act 2006 and Water Services Industries Act 2006.

Concerned over the high number of accidents, especially those involving public transportation like buses, Kubang Kerian PAS MP Salahuddin Ayub filed a motion to dock minister Kong Cho Ha’s (right) salary for negligence of duty.

Recently, the Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board (CVLB) had revoked express bus and charter licences with immediate effect of two companies whose vehicles had been involved in separate tragic accidents last month.

On Oct 10, an express bus owned by Syarikat Kuala Lumpur-Malacca Express was involved in five vehicle pile-up that killed 12 people at the Km223 of the North-South Expressway near Simpang Ampat, Malacca.

On Oct 29, seven people died in an accident at Km36 of the Karak Highway, near Genting Sempah. They were among 44 people on a chartered bus belonging to MM2H

Information and Communication Technology

Mahfuz Omar (PAS-Pokok Sena) ,meanwhile, will probably highlight the poor reach of Internet and broadband services in rural areas.

Minister Rais Yatim’s son was recently accused of being one of the beneficiaries of the ministry’s RM1 billion grant to improve broadband access.

The Malay Mail had reported that blogs, Taikors and Taikuns (TnT) and bigdogdotcom had alleged that this telecommunication company was one of nine to have profited from government funds set aside for the purpose.