DAP MPs Nga Kor Ming, V Sivakumar and Ngeh Koo Ham will not apologise for urging the Dewan Rakyat speaker to step down.(Facebook pic)
KUALA LUMPUR: The three DAP MPs, who risk contempt of Parliament for calling on Dewan Rakyat Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia to resign for rejecting their questions on 1MDB, today refused to apologise.
Nga Kor Ming (DAP-Taiping) said they would instead file a new motion on Monday to seek a debate on the speaker’s decision to reject questions and motions concerning the troubled government investment fund.
Nga said they wanted Pandikar to explain why the auditor-general’s report on 1MDB was classified under the Official Secrets Act if it was true that no misappropriation took place.
They also wanted to know why Putrajaya made no effort to claim the money allegedly taken from 1MDB as stated by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) in its lawsuits.
“Since the speaker doesn’t allow us to ask questions on the issue in Parliament, we suggest that he answer our questions,” Nga told reporters at Parliament’s media centre today.
He added that the trio only wanted to uphold and strengthen justice.
Pandikar has demanded that Nga, V Sivakumar (DAP-Batu Gajah) and Ngeh Koo Ham (DAP-Beruas) issue an open apology in the Dewan Rakyat for accusing him of collusion in covering up corruption scandals.
The speaker said the MPs’ statement had insulted him and tarnished the good name of the Dewan Rakyat.
Pandikar also said failure to apologise would result in action against them.
In a joint statement last week, the three MPs said Pandikar should not be an accomplice in covering up the 1MDB scandal and should honourably resign if he failed to uphold the truth.
They urged him to step down after he rejected an emergency motion on the 1MDB-linked luxury yacht Equanimity and questions related to the state investor.
The RM1 billion yacht, allegedly owned by Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, was recently seized by Indonesian authorities in Bali in a joint effort with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
US authorities led by the DoJ are investigating assets believed to have been bought with money siphoned from 1MDB.
Nga further said the trio respected the speaker, and “sincerely believe he is under tremendous pressure from the Barisan Nasional government”.
“But we will continue to pursue justice,” he said.
Pandikar has also turned down an emergency motion by Gooi Hsiao Leung (PKR-Alor Setar), which urged Prime Minister Najib Razak to explain why the government did not intend to claim the confiscated yacht.
The motion was rejected under Section 18(7)(c) of the Standing Orders, which allows the speaker to refuse any motion presented to him if it contravenes the Standing Orders.
Pandikar also rejected two 1MDB-related questions from by Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Gelang Patah) and another four questions by Tony Pua (DAP-Petaling Jaya Utara).
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Azalina Othman Said, who is in charge of parliamentary affairs, had also rebuked the three DAP MPs, calling their statement malicious.
In July last year, Pandikar said a total of 19 questions relating to 1MDB had been allowed to be raised in the Dewan Rakyat session. -FMT
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