He said based on the reply from Dewan Rakyat Speaker Johari Abdul, Wee did not intend to mislead the House.
“So, in this case, because Wee himself was confused about the matter, he could not have had the intention to mislead the House.
“I accept the (speaker’s) decision to reject my motion,” he told a press conference at the Parliament building.
On Nov 12, the DAP MP sought to refer Wee to the rights and privileges committee after the latter sparred with economy minister Rafizi Ramli over the cost for developing Padu.
Chong contended that Wee had misled the House and imputed improper motives to Rafizi by stating that the cost of developing Padu was RM85 million.
Chong said the Barisan Nasional MP had accused the minister of giving two different answers on Padu’s cost and of misleading the Dewan Rakyat.
Rafizi previously denied the government had spent RM85 million to establish Padu, saying it had only spent RM31 million on the system as of September this year.
Wee, however, contended that the RM85 million figure he had repeatedly mentioned was from past written parliamentary replies from Rafizi.
He was referring to Rafizi’s statement in July that the total cost to develop Padu from 2023 to 2025 would reach RM85.27 million.
Wee referred Chong to Dewan panel
Chong today revealed that Wee had also filed a motion to refer him (Chong) to the rights and privileges committee.
Chong said that, according to a letter he received from the Dewan Rakyat speaker, Wee denied interjecting during Rafizi’s speech or questioning the disparity in the figures. Wee also denied referring Rafizi to the rights and privileges committee regarding the matter.
Chong, however, said based on the Hansard, Wee had cited Standing Order 36(12) – which provides for MPs who mislead the House to be referred to the committee – to interject Rafizi’s speech.
“Wee claimed he had no intention of referring Rafizi to the committee, but his action in raising Standing Order 36(12) suggested otherwise,” he added.
He also questioned why Wee, as a government backbencher, was “doing the opposition’s work” by referring a minister to the committee.
“Someone who is confused has no business ‘schooling’ someone who is providing clarification. If Wee insists on schooling someone, he should head back to Wisma MCA and educate his party leaders who are confused about Padu’s costs,” Chong said, referring to Wee’s Facebook post on the tiff. - FMT
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