DAP: Speaker tampering with sacred Hansard

By Joseph Tawie

KUCHING: The opposition in Sarawak have accused the state speaker and his secretariat at the state legislative assembly of 'tampering' and 'manipulating' with the sacred Hansard, which is a realtime recording of proceedings in the Dewan.

Pending assemblywoman Violet Yong said speeches and points raised by the opposition was not recorded.

“Speeches and points raised by the opposition are excluded in the Hansard. My budget speech delivered on the fourth day of the sitting has not appeared in the Hansard.

“All proceedings of the first and other days have already been tabled, except for the fourth day,” she said, pointing out that 'even the online record' of the Dewan did not reflect the fourth day's proceedings.

She said when asked about the omission, the secretariat's revert was due to 'technical reasons.'

"For unknown reasons, they said that it was due to a technical reason. It is difficult to believe that the RM300 million Dewan has such inferior quality.

“I also noticed that my question asking (Deputy Chief Minister) George Chan to explain why his daughter was alienated a prime land at BDC Stampin at a cheap price was deleted from the Hansard. Not a single word was printed.

“What have they been doing? It is of public interest ... they want to know,” Yong said.

Worsening situation

Describing the situation in the Dewan as getting worse, Yong said there was now no room for any cross-questioning.

“Things are getting worse now. First, the BN (Barisan Nasional) sent us out and suspended us for talking and asking questions.

"Now they have tampered and manipulated our speeches and points raised in the Dewan.

“They only want to print speeches and remarks that praised the government and those concerning the people’s problems they took out,” said the state DAP treasurer.

Furious at the way the opposition's elected representatives are being treated, Yong said: “It shows that they (BN) have something to hide; they are scared of the questions from the people.

“This is a very serious case. Since Sarawak is a member of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), I will write to Westminster House in London to inform them of the injustice the opposition members have been treated in Sarawak assembly, " she said.

Yong said she would give the Dewan three weeks to produce the full unedited Hansard, and if by then nothing happens she will 'write a complaint to CPA headquarters.”

Criminal act

Meanwhile state DAP secretary Chong Chieng Jen accused the state government of trying to change history.

“Hansard is a historical record. What we said in the Dewan will go down in history recorded by Hansard. It is for the future generations to see.

“But if you are tampering with it, then the sanctity of the Dewan will be lost. I think this is a sinful and criminal act against our future generations,” said Chong, who is the assemblyman for Kota Sentosa.

“The future generations will not know what transpired at the Dewan,” he said likening the behavior of the speaker to an “all too almighty DJ” in the Dewan.

In Sibu, DAP chairman Wong Ho Leng who is the Bukit Assek assemblyman, accused Speaker Asfia Awang Nasar of "switching off their mikes" whenever the opposition members wanted to rebut lies hurled by the ministers in the Dewan.

“We never wanted to be rowdy, but we cannot stay mute when a minister hurled lies in the Dewan against us from the DAP.

"Yet we were not given the mikes. Without the mikes, all those in the Dewan might have heard us, but what we said was not recorded, and the public would not know why and what we had rebutted,” he said.

Citing an incident, Wong said: “There were four of us who remained in the opposition bench. All of us took minister Wong Soon Koh to task for his lies in the Dewan, but he would not give floor to us. He simply smiled and went on reading, repeating and reading.

“If he was serious in what he said he should have allowed us to clarify. But he acted like a clown, smiling at our rebuttals and continuing with his attack (against us),” he said, pointing out that he invoked the Standing Orders, but was totally ignored by the speaker. - FMT