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PARLIAMENT | An opposition lawmaker today challenged Dewan Rakyat Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia’s decision to reject his question seeking an explanation from Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak as to why the auditor-general’s 1MDB report had been classified as an official secret.
Lee Boon Chye (PKR-Gopeng) said he believed Pandikar had misinterpreted his question in coming up with the ruling.
“My question was to ask why was the audit report classified; not to ask about contents of the report,” he said.
Surely, Lee added, the reasons for the report’s confidentiality could not be secret as well.
"Although I understand that the content of the report is an official secret, it can’t be that the reasons why it has been classified are also a secret?” he asked.
Lee spoke at the end of question time this morning, before the sitting proceeded with the Prime Minister’s Department’s winding-up of the royal address.
Lee said Pandikar had ruled to reject his question on grounds that no questions could be asked on matters classified as an official secret.
Deputy Dewan Rakyat Speaker Ronald Kiandee then urged Lee to use his right as an MP to table a motion to review Pandikar’s ruling.
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Meanwhile, Hanipa Maidin (Amanah-Sepang) claimed that opposition lawmakers had in the past attempted to challenge Pandikar’s ruling via a private motion, as suggested by Kiandee, but always failed.
“So there is no point in this... all of this is scripted,” he noted.
Negative message
Hanipa earlier appealed to the deputy speaker to reconsider his (Hanipa's) own motion requesting a debate on the latest reported case of domestic helper abuse.
“In this issue, the court case aside, I feel that we in this Dewan Rakyat should discuss how maid abuse can be prevented in the future,” said Hanipa who noted that failure to act would send a negative message, not only to Malaysians but also to Indonesians.
However, Kiandee reminded Hanipa that Pandikar had yesterday rejected his motion in writing and such matters could not be raised again in the Dewan Rakyat.
It was reported yesterday that prosecutors were unable to locate Rozita Mohamad Ali, 44, whose light sentence they are appealing.
She was charged under Section 326 of the Penal Code for voluntarily causing grievous hurt to her domestic helper in 2016 and released on a good behaviour bond.
Rozita was charged with abusing then 19-year-old Suyanti Sutrinso (photo above) in 2016, using a kitchen knife, a steel mop, a clothes hanger and an umbrella. -Mkini
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