There are two possibilities why Dr Mahathir Mohamad replied to a parliamentary question on behalf of Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng when they both attended the sitting yesterday, claimed BN's Ayer Hitam MP Wee Ka Siong.
If a prime minister had to answer on behalf of a minister during a question-and-answer session in the Dewan Rakyat, then the prime minister must have thought that his subordinate is incompetent, Wee said.
"The prime minister had no confidence and felt that the minister was incapable of answering, thus he responded on Lim's behalf.
"But in the case of Guan Eng, he was a two-term chief minister. He is not inexperienced nor incompetent to answer the questions himself," Wee said when contacted.
"Guan Eng said the prime minister has the right to do so. While I am not questioning his right, I think it was something rare and sudden."
Wee said another possibility is that Mahathir wanted to set a precedent of answering questions not only on behalf of the finance minister, but even on behalf of all other ministers in the august House.
"He wants to be able to answer on behalf of any minister if needed to do so," added Wee, who is MCA deputy president and the only MCA member in Parliament.
"But looking at Mahathir's record, it is nothing strange, for that was what the prime minister did (ran his administration) before the setting up his cabinet."
According to yesterday's Order Paper, the first question was posed to the finance minister by Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (BN-Bagan Datuk).
Zahid asked the finance minister to state the rationale for Malaysia to obtain a financial loan from Japan, with a higher currency value than the ringgit, despite the low-interest rate.
But, Mahathir took the House by surprise by answering the question. - Mkini
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