Dewan Rakyat: Rafizi’s absence irks Speaker

(NST) – The absence of Pandan Member of Parliament Rafizi Ramli in the Dewan Rakyat today irked Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia.

Pandikar was annoyed as the decision on Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan to be referred to the Parliament’s Rights and Privileges Committee for contempt regarding his statement on 1MDB had to be deferred.

“When I am ready to make the ruling, Pandan (Rafizi) is not here.

” I have received the relevant documents from the finance ministry but no documents have been given to me by Rafizi since Thursday last week,” Pandikar said.

He stressed that members of parliament like to highlight ministers or deputy ministers absent from the House but they themselves are also absent during important announcements or decisions made in the lower house.

He noted that over the course of six years of him being the Speaker, this was the first time that during the Question and Answer time, the lower house had reached until question 23 in the order paper.

Usually question time is limited to about 10 questions during the 90-minute session.

Twelve questions went unanswered as the MPs were either absent or the relevant ministry’s representatives were not present.

“I hope in the future, we can be like the New Zealand Parliament where 30 questions are answered during the session,” he said.

Last week, Rafizi had tabled a motion to cite Ahmad Maslan to the Rights and Privileges Committee for allegedly misleading the house over a letter of support (LOS) pertaining to 1MDB’s RM9.6bil bond.