KUALA LUMPUR: Some opposition lawmakers walked out of Parliament in protest of the Prime Minister’s absence from the special sitting on the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) report on Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH).
The protest came after Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul rejected the opposition’s request to postpone the sitting. Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was not in the House as he is recovering from a surgery.
The sitting yesterday was convened under Standing Order 11(3), which allows the Prime Minister, in the name of public interest, to call for a special sitting of the Dewan Rakyat earlier than its scheduled date.
Arguing on the matter, opposition chief whip Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan (PN-Kota Baru) said the Prime Minister should have been present to answer questions on the report.
However, Johari said the sitting could proceed with Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and other Cabinet members present.
Takiyuddin then said the opposition would not follow the debate, prompting Johari to rule that MPs who did not wish to follow the proceedings could leave the House.
Takiyuddin then said the RCI report should have been tabled in Parliament under an embargo before being made public.
“However, in the case of the Tabung Haji RCI, the report was made public during the Negri Sembilan state election before being brought to the Dewan Rakyat.
“This reversal of the usual process clearly shows that the debate in the House now has little meaningful difference from debate outside Parliament, unless the Prime Minister attends in person to defend the report before elected representatives,” he said.
Outside the Dewan Rakyat, Wawasan president Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin told reporters the sitting was merely a ‘ministerial briefing’, with no decision or vote to be taken.
Hamzah also questioned the urgency of debating the report, saying its recommendations had already been given to the government and TH three years ago.
