Opposition fails to refer ministers to Privileges Committee
By Husna Yusop and Hemananthani Sivanandam, The Sun
KUALA LUMPUR (July 8, 2010): Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia today rejected the motions made by four opposition MPs to refer several ministers to the Privileges Committee for misleading the house or making contradictory statements.
He ruled that they have either misunderstood the ministers’ statements, the ministers did not have the intention to mislead or the statements made were not under their jurisdiction.
“Can the speaker please give a tip here … in what kind of situation can we bring the ministers to the Privileges Committee? From the way it is, there is no chance at all,” Azmin said.
Pandikar Amin said there had been a chance to bring Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz to the committee for making an inaccurate statement before, but he apologised to the house.
“There is, indeed, space for this. If Padang Rengas (Nazri) did not apologise, he could have been referred to the committee. But he apologised, he’s a gentleman,” he said, referring to a statement by Nazri on the issue of Parliament moving to Putrajaya.
“So, I have said before, when a mistake is done, be a man, bite the bullet, don’t try to insist that you are right.”
Chong Eng (DAP-Bukit Mertajam) had brought a a motion to refer Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein to the committee on June 10, saying his reply to her question on whether the crime index could be displayed on the website was contradictory.
To this, Pandikar Amin said there had been a misunderstanding on the part of Fong because Hishammuddin was referring to the ministry’s website when replying to her, and his deputy, Datuk Abu Seman Yusop, was referring to the police website.
Another motion was from Teresa Kok (DAP-Seputeh), who wanted to refer Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen to the committee for her replies on the cost of the Malaysian pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo.
Kok said Ng had replied that RM20 million was spent to design, build, maintain and bring down the pavilion after the expo is over, but in a written reply later, she said RM35 million was spent for the construction and operations of the pavilion.
Pandikar Amin said both the replies were correct as he has found out that the RM20 million was specifically for the pavilion, while the RM35 million was the overall cost of operations for the pavilion for six months.
The third motion was by Datuk Mahfuz Omar (PAS-Pokok Sena), who said he felt cheated when supporting the prime minister’s motion condemning the Israel attack on the Gaza flotilla when he found out that Malaysia has trade relations with Israel.
The final motion was by Chong Chieng Jen (DAP-Bandar Kuching), who said the prime minister had given conflicting statements on government expenses and promises made during the Sibu by-election.
In the last two situations, Pandikar Amin said, the three conditions to establish a prima facie case were not fulfilled: the statement was wrong, the person saying it realised it was wrong but continued saying it, and the person has an intention to mislead.
He also said both cases had involved the prime minister’s statements which were made outside the house and, thus, do not fall under his jurisdiction.
