KUALA LUMPUR: Parti Wawasan Negara (Wawasan) and PAS will not remain in the Dewan Rakyat for the debate on the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) report on Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH) after staging a walkout during the special sitting on Tuesday (Aug 11).
This followed the rejection of their request to postpone the special sitting due to the absence of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who is recovering under medical supervision.
Wawasan president Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin said the opposition wanted the Prime Minister to be present to respond to issues raised in the RCI report, particularly as he had previously raised the matter himself.
The opposition leader said there was little point in participating in the special sitting as it was merely a ministerial briefing, with no decision or vote to be taken.
“We will not be going back in after this. It is a briefing session. If they are just going to brief us, what are they asking us to debate?
“If we want to debate this and ultimately it is only going to be a ministerial briefing, with no decision to be made, we can do this in other ways, such as holding press conferences, issuing statements or sending letters.
“All of that can be done through the relevant committees,” he told reporters at a press conference in Parliament after the walkout.
He also questioned the urgency of debating the report, saying its recommendations had already been given to the government three years ago.
“For example, there was a report quoting the Prime Minister as saying that billions of ringgit have been siphoned off from TH.
“So we want to know which part of the RCI report he was referring to when he said that someone had siphoned off the money.
“If money had been siphoned off, the report would have already been with the government for three years, so why has no one been proven to have siphoned off money as alleged?
“So what are we supposed to debate here when he himself has shown no urgency in proving that this is something urgent and important for the people to know?” he said.
He also questioned the timing of the RCI report’s release, which was initially withheld over concerns that public disclosure could trigger panic and mass withdrawals that could destabilise the pilgrims’ fund, as TH depositors are predominantly rural Malays and Muslims.
“Malays have lost confidence before. Now they have not lost confidence? What exactly is he trying to tell us?
“It does not matter whether it was before or now, it is the same if he does not explain the truth.”
