Dewan Diary Day 4

By Wong Ho Leng
17th May 2007

An Assistant Minister thought that the Dewan is a Formula 1 race course where a question could be answered by changing gear. Dominique shouted “Hidup KeADILan Rakyat” and “Reformasi” in the Dewan. Chong used “Jangan Kurang Ajar” a bit too often and was asked to withdraw or sit down. He walked out without finishing his speech.

We started at 9 a.m. on the dot. The consistent punctuality owes much to our Punctuality Motion that was moved last year. All Ministers were present though not all answered questions.

12 questions were answered orally. The session saw for the 1st time a member adopting a fellow member’s question as his own.

The Government is optimistic about the oil palm industry over the next 30 years. In 2006 the oil palm industry earned RM2.38 billion for the state, including RM800m sales tax. When I heard that, I could not resist but ask myself where has all the money gone to?

Vincent Goh (Pelawan) asked a Supplementary Question which attracted a supplementary answer but the Assistant Minister (Semunjian) read from ready text. How could the Assistant Minister know what Supplementary Question would be raised?

The Assistant Minister indicated that there is a possible alternative to oil palm, jatropha! He said it is planted in Myamar and India now. Wow, this tree can be densely planted and has medicinal value and is a viable bio-fuel substitute. I had wanted to ask a Supplementary Question because the Speaker refused me, saying that 2 already had been asked.

In respect of the fishing industry, Assistant Minister Fatimah informed the Dewan that small fish caught are returned to the river and sea. She said that with a smile and a gesture possibly indicating to Jepak, the enquirer, that he should not have asked it. I think the true answer lies in her gesture.

Violet was fortunate to have her question answered, the last for the day. That was the highlight of the 1st hour. But Assistant Minister Hamden (Balawai) was reading the figures so quickly that his answer was incomprehensible. I protested. He had the cheek to tell the Dewan that he is changing gear. He started with 1st gear and pronounced Mukah as “Muuuukaaaahhhhh”, forcing me to tell him that was not the way to do it and be serious about his job. Then he said he changed to 2nd gear. I cannot resist telling the Dewan that he ought to be serious. He thought that the Dewan is a Formula 1 circuit. We believed that those figures had to be carefully given to us, because we could then see whether the amount of welfare funds had been reduced over the years. They were. When Violet raised a Supplementary Question why the welfare funds were reduced from 2006 and 2007, the Assistant Minister made a presumption that it might be because the number of poor was decreasing over the years. That was not the way to answer. Respondent politicians are not interested in conjectures. I asked him whether he was presuming, only to be told that he would give a written answer. Well, I told him that if he did not know the answer, better be honest about it. Do not presume and expect us to receive your answer as idiots.

I loved the speech made by Lihan Jok (Telang Usan). He appealed that the poor Penans should not be left out of ICT initiatives. He challenged for a radio program in Penan language. To me, that was wishful thinking under the present BN Government. His speech had a nice tempo and I felt sure that there were lots of ears on the other side.

Dominique (Padungan) started at 11:35 a.m. and was expected to finish just past midday. But he was given some leeway. He dutifully brought up his constituency problems first and then complained of his questions not being entertained by the Dewan. Due to the loss of his father, he had not submitted his questions in time. He claimed that the Dewan ought to be flexible. He also complained that he had not received written answers for the previous sitting. I can understand Dominique’s feelings. With floor given to me, I asked that written answers be given before the end of the sitting. The Speaker said that there was no such right in the Standing Orders. How wrong, this answer of us. The Ministries could then decline to answer our questions.

With time running out, Dominique talked about Soon Koh, as the Minister of Finance, not answering his request to recommend the moving of a Motion concerning grants to Chinese and missionary schools. Soon Koh retorted by asking whether Dominique had consulted him. I asked whether he had received Dominique’s letter. There was no reply. Dominique was at pains to tell the Dewan that he would continue his crusade for financial grants, like a foolish old man moving the mountain, until PKR shall form the Government. The roof almost fell down with the BN backbenchers and Ministers going for Dominique’s neck. The commotion became uncontrollable with the Speaker yelling the next ADUN to take the floor. Dominique stood his ground and began a rampage of “Hidup KeADILan” and “Reformasi” against them. I think Dominique realized that a lone voice was almost futile, but his shouts at the BN “all of you should be ashamed of ourselves” were pretty good bonuses.

I did not like the flu bug. Aches in the bone forced me to take a pill and rest. I told Chong to try his luck at 3p.m. I was in the Dewan at 3.05p.m., and was able to hear that Chong was talking. I asked one of the Dewan staff, “sudah bising?” “Belum lagi. Warming up”, was the reply. Chong was speaking on the hike in SESCO tariff and condemned that not a single SUPP ADUN speak about it. That was true. Andy (Pujut) had the audacity to say that the SUPP had not spoken yet, forgetting, probably, that Vincent Goh had seconded the Motion for debate with his “lengthy speech”. Andy accused Chong for misguiding the Dewan, saying that he had presented a memorandum to the Minister. I let the Dewan know that Andy presented the Memorandum asking for review of the tariff hike only on 29th April, 2007, 29 days after the new tariff was in force. How embarrassing it was to hear from Andy saying, “better late than never”. Chong asked whether the SUPP is in opposition by presenting the memorandum. By the time the memorandum was presented, the water had run under the bridge.

Chong had a mind set against the SUPP this afternoon. He asked that land for relocation of Chung Hua Primary School No.2 be given together with financial grants, for building schools is the duty of the Government. It was not fair to get money from the Chinese community which is tantamount to double taxation, one for the income tax and the other for school.

When another SUPP subject was brought up, you could see the civil servants laugh. Chong deliberated on the sale of shophouse at Kelly Garden, built in 1996 and sold as strata title but after many years, occupation permits were not issued. When the purchasers wrote to MBKS why occupation permits were not issued, the reply, in August 2005 was that there was no building plan approval for abovementioned property. Therefore the question for issuance of occupation permit by the council does not arise. A SUPP Councillor developed the land without approval of building plan. Chong said this is worse than Zakaria who built the house for himself and if not approved, he suffered. Here, building without building plan caused suffering to purchasers.

The Dewan’s roof was already “shaking” when Chong spoke about land compensation to about 67 acres of land acquired under s.47. Landowners were dispossessed under s.49 but for years compensation were still not forthcoming. This is not new. Chong quoted the Backbencher Chairman’s own words made to the Borneo Post asking for land compensation to be paid out quickly. Standing, Karim said he stood by his statement, prompting a quick witted Chong to tell him not to stand for too long.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was Chong’s final issue concerning the Titanium Management Sdn Bhd. Chong had not even started when a barrage of protest came, saying that the issue had been deliberated before. Chong retorted with “jangan kurang ajar”. The Speaker had enough of all these and demanded Chong to withdraw, otherwise he must sit down. Phrases sich as “Kuching bodoh” were uttered by the BN backbenchers. A shouting match blew up between the Speaker and Chong. The Speaker gave 3 warnings for Chong to withdraw or sit down. Chong bombarded the Dewan at the top of his voice and walked off, with the Speaker saying, “Get out”, “Get out”. It was another commotion. The Speaker had not been so angry for many months.

As “bodoh” echoed in the Dewan, I stood up to protest that there was double standard but all was in vain. The Speaker had enough and called the next member to speak. We staged a walk out. The Press rushed to interview us on the matter. Chong took charge of one group. I took charge of another. We promised we would not be cowed by the practice of double standard. Violet and Tze Fei also gave their piece of mind to the press. They had come to learn the hard things.

It was then time for a meeting between the 6 DAPpers. We unanimously decided to boycott the remaining of the afternoon session. Violet and I would speak tomorrow and had we stayed, our only “job” would be to listen to the songs of praises sung by the BN backbenchers of their masters. Would they let us in for clarification? No. So it was decided. “Let’s pack and boycott the remaining 2 hours”. We would be back in the morning.

Chong’s wife was in the public gallery witnessing the words of bomb between her husband and the Speaker and BN backbenchers. I thought that it was not easy to take those heat despite the coldness of the Dewan.

The commotion at least jolted me from flu a little. We had a pretty good session at the Ming Kiong fruit stall at Rubber Road. Probably upset over what had been practised against us, I “sapu” the dozen of mangoes in the stall. The taste is a lot better than that in the Dewan.

The Dewan will be boring without us in there. To the BN, they will say there is a lot of peace without us for the few hours.