VETERAN lawmaker Lim Kit Siang said the first week of Parliament has exposed it as utterly irrelevant, outmoded and in need of major parliamentary reforms to keep abreast with modern trends and developments.
Citing the Petronas assets seizure by heirs of the Sulu Sultanate to illustrate his point, Lim said three MPs – Ramkarpal Singh (PH-Bukit Gelugor), Salahuddin Ayub (PH-Pulai) and Isnaraissah Munirah Majilis (Warisan-Kota Belud) – had sought an emergency Dewan Rakyat debate over the seizure of the assets.
Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun, in blocking the debate, cited sub judice rules, which prevent the Lower House from debating matters in court.
“However, the Government held a closed-door briefing session at Seri Pacific Hotel in Kuala Lumpur last night (July 21) for parliamentarians on claims over Petronas assets by the purported heirs of the Sulu Sultanate,” Lim pointed out.
“If a debate on the matter was denied on sub judice grounds, wouldn’t such a closed-door briefing for MPs be similarly improper on sub judice grounds?”
When quizzed by Lim on whether anything said at the briefing could not be said in Parliament, an MP who attended the briefing had responded in the negative.
“What happened at the briefing last night was disclosure on the chronology of the case and should have been stated in Parliament as it is not only MPs but the people of Malaysia, in particular the people of Sabah, who have the right to know the full facts of the matter,” Lim stressed.
“The briefing to MPs yesterday cannot be a replacement for a parliamentary debate, which should now be by way of a Ministerial statement followed by a debate.”
According to the DAP elder, Azhar was wrong when he said – in response to objections raised by Sepang MP Mohamed Hanipa Maidin who argued that the sub judice ruling was incorrect as the rule should be used on a case-by-case basis – that debating the matter could reveal the Government’s legal strategies to the enemy.
“The Speaker is right that the Government’s strategy in any litigation should not be revealed but it is not the Speaker’s job to impose a blanket ban to prevent any debate on any issue but to uphold a minister’s right not to disclose such a government strategy,” Lim added. – July 22, 2022
