FIRST-TERM Raub MP Chow Yu Hui has come to the defence of his comrade and Deputy Education Minister Lim Hui Ying who was caught off-guard without a ready answer for parliamentary query yesterday (March 27) by ticking off MCA for behaving like “Perikatan Nasional (PN) loyalists”.
The Pahang DAP political education director went on to remind MCA of its rightful place as a component party of Barisan Nasional (BN) which is supposedly the core component of the unity government alongside Pakatan Harapan (PH).
“It was expected that PN would take advantage of the situation but surprisingly, MCA which is a member of the government, launched an all-out attack on Hui Ying with MCA deputy president Dr Mah Hang Soon and MCA Youth secretary-general Daniel Wa Wai How leading the charge,” Malaysiakini cited him as saying in a media statement.
“Their firepower even surpassed that of PN. MCA should not act like it is part of the unity government but loyal to Bersatu and PAS.”
To re-cap, Dewan Rakyat deputy speaker Datuk Ramli Mohd Nor has yesterday (March 28) reprimanded Hui Ying for her failure to prepare a response to Datuk Ahmad Marzuk Shaary (PN-Pengkalan Chepa) who sought the Education Minister’s explanation on the Supplementary Food Programme at schools.
This was one of the oral questions that MPs had submitted 10 days before Parliament reconvened which ministries usually had a prepared answer for. However, the question was also asked after the question time session was supposed to end (at the 15th question when Hui Ying’s question was numbered 16th).
Commenting on this, Mah who was the former Deputy Education Minister I under the Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s administration had likened Lim’s parliamentary performance to “students coming to school for an oral exam and admitting they haven’t done their homework”.
Wa, on the other hand, had proposed that Hui Ying takes a symbolic RM10 salary cut as “DAP had in the past bandied a RM10 salary deduction from Cabinet ministers”.
Chow, however, noted that Lim and her team had apologised for the oversight.
“Nobody is perfect; knowing one’s mistakes and correcting them is the greatest virtue. As a first-time deputy minister, there are many parliamentary procedures and rules to familiarise oneself with. Hui Ying’s team should be given a second chance,” contended the former Tras state assemblyman.
As for Mah who lost in the Tanjong Malim parliamentary contest during the 15th General Election (GE15) as a BN candidate, Chow suggested that he should pick other issues to speak up if he wanted to be vocal.
“If he wants to make his presence felt, he can choose to counter PN’s extremist remarks on the Jom Ziarah Gereja programme or comments by Bersatu Women’s chief Datuk Seri Rina Harun on closing down vernacular schools rather than relentlessly attacking DAP,” added Chow. – March 28, 2023
