MINISTERS and deputy ministers must undergo a course in parliamentary reform so that they won’t create dubious history in the world by committing the most unparliamentary sin as evading parliamentary questions as what happened in the current meeting of Parliament.
I was shocked when I received the answer to my question asking for salaries and allowances for government-linked companies (GLCs) and government-linked investment companies (GLICs).
My question read: “Minta Menteri Kewangan menyatakan gaji dan elaun yang diterima oleh semua pengurusan tertinggi syarikat berkaitan Kerajaan (GLC) dan syarikat pelaburan berkaitan Kerajaan (GLIC) untuk setiap tahun bagi lima tahun yang lepas.”
The question was first directed to the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob but at the last minute, it was switched to the Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz to answer.
The answer I received from Tengku Zafrul is as follows:
“Untuk makluman Yang Berhormat, penetapan gaji dan elaun di dalam syarikat berkaitan GLC dan GLIC adalah berdasarkan beberapa kriteria utama seperti saiz syarikat, jenis perniagaan, status syarikat (tersenarai atau tidak tersenarai), kompleksiti tugas dan tanggungjawab serta lain-lain kriteria lagi.
“Selain itu, kerajaan turut mengambil kira faktor kajian pasaran bagi memastikan gaji dan elaun yang ditetapkan berpadanan atau mark-to-market. Perkara ini penting bagi memastikan syarikat-syarikat berkenaan dapat mengekalkan bakat dan kemahiran kakitangan (right talent and skill-set) selain dapat menarik bakat yang terbaik daripada pasaran untuk menyertai syarikat.
“Perkara ini penting bagi memastikan syarikat-syarikat berkaitan Kerajaan kekal berdaya saing terutamanya dalam mengharungi keadaan ekonomi ketika ini.”
Even a primary school student can tell Tengku Zafrul that he is not answering my question at all.
Moreover, what he actually answered could be an explanation for the different salaries and allowances for the GLCs and GLICs, but he failed to answer my question asking him to reveal the salaries and allowances of the top officials of the GLCs and GLICs.
As this a major blow to the Government’s accountability and transparency, I want to question Tengku Zafrul, what was he trying to hide from Malaysians as well as to inform him that he had committed a serious parliamentary blunder by evading a parliamentary question.
This has not happened in other Parliaments – so why is it happening in the Malaysian Parliament?
In fact, under the previous eight Malaysian Prime Ministers from 1957 to 2011, the evasion of parliamentary questions had not been so blatant as happened in the current Parliamentary meeting.
Seputeh MP Teresa Kok complained that she has not received a proper reply from the Prime Minister on the size, cost and number of non-government personnel involved in the Prime Minister’s visit to Japan.
Ipoh Barat MP M. Kulasegaran complained as well that the Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan had failed to answer his question on the spending of overseas trips of the Human Resources Development Corporation (HRS Corp) chairman and CEO since 2020.
Can the PM explain why his Cabinet cannot even live up to the standards of previous prime ministers and cabinets on parliamentary replies by ministers and deputy ministers? – Aug 3, 2022
Lim Kit Siang is the Iskandar Puteri MP, DAP supremo and a veteran lawmaker.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
Pic credit: Malay Mail
