One-day sitting ‘worthless’, says ex-PH minister

Former minister Xavier Jayakumar.

PETALING JAYA: A former minister under the previous Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration today questioned the point of the one-day Parliament sitting, calling the session “worthless” as no debates were allowed.

Xavier Jayakumar, who was water, land and natural resources minister for PH, said the MPs were invited for about an hour to hear the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s royal address following which the session was closed.

“All of you elected us to go to Parliament. We are the voice of check and balance (for the) government, but this government today, this Parliament will be rubbish. This Parliament sitting is worthless,” he said in a video uploaded online today.

He said the government had cited the Covid-19 outbreak as reason for the shortened sitting but claimed the real reason was because it was afraid to face them after Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s bid for a motion of no confidence against Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

“This is a charade being played by a bunch of traitors and pirates,” he said, adding that the one-day sitting was only to safeguard the government’s interests.

The royal address of Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah was the only item on the agenda today, the first time Parliament convened following the change of government in March.

Speaking on the lack of debates today, Jayakumar gave the example of Putrajaya’s RM250 billion economic stimulus package, saying it was being used even though it had not been approved in Parliament.

“We are not against the budget. We will support it but we want details. We want to ask questions.

“The industry has been speaking to us, we want to bring it to Parliament,” he said. - FMT