Lame excuse or logical that ‘sakau’ accuser PMX must be present for hajj fund RCI debate to take off?

 

SUCH was apparently the rationale behind yesterday’s (Aug 12) walk-out by Opposition parliamentarians after their bid to postpone a special sitting on the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) report on Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH) was rejected.

Except for Bersatu lawmakers who stayed put in the Dewan Rakyat, both PAS and Parti Wawasan Negara MPs left the august hall just as Religious Affairs Minister Datuk Dr Zulkifli Hasan stood to deliver a ministerial briefing on the RCI report which scrutinised the hajj fund’s management and operations from 2014 to 2020.

The crux of the matter is that both PAS and Wawasan had wanted the briefing to be postponed in view of the absence of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim whom they label as the “sakau (act of plundering) accuser” following an elective laparoscopic surgery to treat a para-umbilical (abdominal) hernia on Aug 10.

After all, not only had the special session took place without any motions, resolutions or voting processes, the duo deemed the presence of PMX as essential “to answer important questions and establish a transparent accountability process”.

“This failure caused opposition MPs who were fully prepared to debate this issue to request that the session be postponed until PMX himself could attend to ensure that the accountability process could be implemented,” justified Perikatan Nasional (PN) chief whip Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan.

The PAS secretary-general went on to lament that the matter was “also overshadowed by the odd procedure in the report’s tabling”.

“Typically, an RCI report must first be tabled in Parliament under embargo terms before being made public. However, in the case of TH’s RCI, the report was made public during the Negeri Sembilan state election before being brought to the Dewan Rakyat,” recounted Takiyuddin who is also the Kota Bahru MP.

“This reversal clearly shows that the debate in the House now no longer has a significant difference compared to the debate outside Parliament unless PMX is present in person to defend the report in front of the people’s representatives.”

Scoring brownie points

While it cannot be ascertained if this is merely a strategic move with UMNO to delay the “unearthing of truth” given the “almost RM13 bil loss” incurred by TH had occurred during the Barisan Nasional (BN) reign, Bersatu has somehow endeared itself to detractors by not participating in the walk-out.

“This is an important issue for the rakyat and there’s no need for  political drama,” jibed Bersatu vice-president Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin who is also the Putrajaya MP.  “We even asked for the discussion period to be extended. The rakyat need to know the truth”.

But the one lawmaker who stole the limelight most is perhaps former MUDA president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman who slammed the opposition for boycotting the parliamentary debate on grounds of PMX’s medical leave, thus forsaking the interest of failed more than 10 million TH depositors.

“It’s very unfortunate that we on the opposition side who’re the loudest in championing the Malay-Muslim cause have chosen to boycott the debate on the institution that is most important to the Malay-Muslim community,” justified the Muar MP during the special sitting.

We aren’t boycotting PMX. We’re boycotting our duty to millions of TH depositors … Parliament is not a one-man show. PMX is unwell but that does not mean the rest of us should stop doing our jobs.

 

The responsibility of 222 healthy members of parliament is stopped just because of an unhealthy PMX?

Those who are paid tens of thousands in salaries, have confirmed pensions and all kinds of allowances have clearly failed to play that role.

At the end of the day, the entire affair was capitalised by Madani backers to attack the sincerity of the opposition faction who is the loudest in defending the Malays and Islam “yet their action doesn’t go beyond safeguarding their political interest”.

This includes the bashing of one inhumane post which teased PMX if he could “urinate smoothly post operation” for choosing a date so close to the RCI tabling in Dewan Rakyat to undergo his so-called “elective surgery”. 

 - Focus Malaysia