Yeoh defends Lim’s unpreparedness at Q&A session

Youth and Sports Minister Hannah Yeoh has come to her colleague Lim Hui Ying’s defence after the latter was criticised for failing to prepare for a question-and-answer session at the Dewan Rakyat.

She said the deputy education minister was put in a spot when the session went beyond the stipulated time.

“I was there to witness this, (the) Q&A session should have ended at 11.30am but the deputy speaker proceeded with Question 16 despite the clock showing 11.35am already,” Yeoh (above) said on Twitter.

For context, the question-and-answer session runs for 90 minutes for each day Parliament is in session from 10.00am to 11.30am, before moving on to start the day’s debates.

At today’s session, however, Dewan Rakyat Deputy Speaker Ramli Mohd Nor told Lim to address a question from Ahmad Marzuk Shaary (Perikatan Nasional-Pengkalan Chepa) even though the question-and-answer session should have ended.

The question was regarding the Supplementary Food Programme at schools.

Deputy Education Minister Lim Hui Ying

Lim replied she didn’t have an answer and offered a written reply instead. This drew criticism from Ramli and other politicians including those in the government coalition.

Deputy minister’s aide apologises

In a statement, Lim’s aide Lim Swee Kuan apologised and explained that the question-and-answer session had departed from usual norms.

He said preparation for the oral replies is based on the fact that only 11 to 13 questions can be covered within the 90-minute period.

“Officers will give detailed briefings to the ministers or deputy ministers who would be answering the first 15 questions. We have also prepared detailed responses to three questions, namely Questions 4, 8, and 11. The deputy minister also answered all three questions as usual at the august House this morning.

“Unexpectedly, we reached Question 16 at 11.35am. We will take more proactive measures to avoid a recurrence of this issue,” Lim added.

For context, questions that are not covered during the question-and-answer session due to the asker’s absence at the Parliament chambers or the lack of time are normally given a written reply later in the day.

However, this would preclude the opportunity to ask follow-up questions to the minister or deputy minister’s answers. - FMT