Home minister accused of neglecting duty in parliament

PKR MP says Zahid Hamidi did not answer his simple question but instead referred him to a government department, making a mockery of the Dewan Rakyat.

PETALING JAYA: A PKR leader has slammed Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for not performing his duty of properly answering parliamentary questions.

Padang Serai MP N Surendran said he had asked a specific question but instead of answering it, Zahid had referred him to a government department.

Surendran said he had asked whether the home ministry intended to acknowledge the citizenship of two individuals who had been born and had lived in Padang Serai, Kedah, but who were still holding red identity cards.

Surendran named the two stateless persons as Koh Kim Lee, 61, and Thayammah, 69.

“These are genuine applicants who were born and have lived in Malaysia all their lives. The home minister should have explained why they had been denied citizenship and whether their application would be finally approved.

“Instead, the home minister, in his answer, referred me to the Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara (national registration department, NRD) to check the status of their applications! Nothing more was said in his written reply,” Surendran said.

“This kind of answer makes a mockery of the institution of parliament.”

The PKR vice-president also accused the home minister of side-stepping a simple question on the status of these two individuals.

“It is a blatant evasion by the minister from confirming whether the two applicants will get their blue ICs and from explaining the failure to grant them citizenship all their lives. It is an irresponsible attempt to pass the buck to civil servants.

“It shows that Malaysians can put little faith in assurances from BN leaders,” he said, referring to assurances from Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders that they were committed to resolving the problem of stateless Malaysian Indians.

Surendran also took to task the home minister for not understanding the purpose of his role when the Dewan Rakyat was in session.

“If MPs are to be referred to government departments for answers, then there is no point whatsoever in having any minister’s question-time in the Dewan Rakyat

“The whole purpose of having parliament as a check upon executive actions would thus be defeated, and there would be no forum to call the government and its ministers to account,” he said. -FMT