Zafrul's no-show prompts MPs to question if he resigned

PARLIAMENT | Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz was absent from the Dewan Rakyat today, prompting some opposition MPs to question if he had resigned.

Zafrul was supposed to address the House during ministerial question time.

A question was raised by M Karupaiya (Pakatan Harapan-Padang Serai), who asked for the total 1MDB and SRC International debt repayment made by the government and the source of the funds used to make those payments.

Following this, deputy speaker Rashid Hasnon said the House acknowledged that Zafrul (above) was absent and hence instructed Minister in the Prime Minister Department (Religious Affairs) Idris Ahmad to answer on Zafrul's behalf.

This sparked protests from opposition MPs such as Mahfuz Omar (Harapan-Pokok Sena), Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad (Harapan-Setiawangsa), and Fahmi Fadzil (Harapan-Lembah Pantai), among others.

"This is not right," protested Mahfuz.

"Where are the two (finance ministry) deputies?” asked Fahmi.

Idris ignored the protests and read from a prepared text.

When it came time for the first reading of the supplementary supply bill, Zafrul was represented by his deputy Mohd Shahar Abdullah (BN-Paya Besar).

This prompted Mahfuz to seek clarification from the speaker if Zafrul had resigned.

"This bill was tabled on the name of the finance minister. This means he had not resigned. (This is strange) because he once said that if there is another (special) Employee Provident Fund (EPF) withdrawal, he would rather resign.

"The prime minister has announced (the withdrawal scheme) yesterday," said Mahfuz.

Resign over allowing another EPF withdrawal

Mahfuz argued that the matter was important because if Zafrul had indeed resigned, then his two deputies cannot represent the finance ministry.

Deputy speaker Ramli Mohd Nor then explained that the House has not been informed of Zafrul's resignation.

In January, Zafrul told Sinar Harian that he would rather resign as a finance minister than compromise and allow a fourth "one-off" special EPF withdrawal scheme.

Zafrul said further EPF withdrawal schemes would cause contributors to lose their retirement savings.

However, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob yesterday announced that the fourth scheme was coming soon, allowing contributors to withdraw up to RM10,000.

Absent due to personal emergency

This afternoon, Zafrul wrote on his Facebook page that he has not resigned and was absent from Parliament due to a personal emergency and he had informed the House yesterday.

He also apologised to Karupaiya, Mahfuz, and Che Abdullah Mat Nawi (Perikatan Nasional-Tumpat) for not being present to answer their supplementary questions during question time.

He promised that their questions will be answered in writing. - Mkini