Dewan Diary - Day 5

By Y.B. Wong Ho Leng, ADUN for Bukit Assek

Is there an animal called “Flu”? It ran amok in the Dewan. From the DAP, 5 had been attacked and needed some sort of “repair”. Voon, our Bull, is immune to Flu. Touch wood.

But mind you, this is no ordinary flu. Despite the anti-biotic we took, this animal still clings to us tight, real tight.

See Hua carried front page news of my altercations withVincent Goh. Who was “ce mei”? The issue was unimportant. I just had to put on record so that they would not call us names anymore next time. It’s funny that adversaries do meet one another at the most inappropriate moment or time (冤家路窄). After I had finished my speech, I met Vincent Goh and Andy Chia at the Corridor talking to reporters. Holding See Hua in his hands, Vincent “thanked” me for making him appear at the front page. May be I had allowed him to gain some cheap publicity.

Though still battling flu, I was giving my speech a finishing touch.

I wasn’t in the Dewan this morning, so I missed the “fun” in there. So far I had deemed it unnecessary to ask Supplementary questions. All my questions requested for written replies. But I was told that Chong had a shouting match with the Minister because of SESCO rates. With these privatized companies earning billions every year, why should the Sarawak Government allow it to hike the rates? The Minister shouted back, asking why shouldn’t these companies earn, after all, the Sarawak Government is a shareholder and the people could also take up shares in this public listed company.

In this economic climate not so many people can afford to take up shares, but everybody would like to see the burden on their shoulder reduced. So, what is wrong with demanding for lesser rates?

Today is the last day for us to speak on the Budget, and, for the 4th time in 4 sessions, I played anchor for the DAP. The only drawback to speaking on the last day, of course, is that there was a time limit of 20 minutes. Had I spoken on the 1st day, I would have 60 minutes. Or, on 2nd day, I would have 30 minutes. But this has worked well. Things that had got to be said must be said. And, I have some advice to the BN. This is best slotted to be said on the last day. When our juniors have gained more exposure, then I will go to the front in quest for more time. We have 6 more sessions to go, so things can be arranged.

About 20 members would speak today. So, it is likely that the sitting would drag on till dark. Normally, the person who caught the eye of the Speaker would be called to speak. Some members had stood 6 to 8 times and still not called. I was lucky today. I was called to speak on my 1st attempt standing.

The only disappointment was that most of the Ministers were not there when I spoke. I am confident that what I said would burn their ear lobes. Call them scathing attacks on the system. I won’t do my speech justice if I repeat what I had spoken here, but there was a small altercation in there which could be enlightening. I was speaking of the internal bickering in the SUPP, wastage of public funds due to the bickering, and the perception that many have called SUPP one of Sarawak’s useless political parties. Lee Kim Shin/Senadin stood to ask for clarification. I had always savoured the moments when they asked question, because that showed that they had listened well, and they became interested in matters raised by you. The Speaker asked whether I was giving way, and I purposely said, “Not this gentleman”. Lee asked “Why”, with Andy Chia/Pujut jumping in to ask whether I had no guts to take Lee’s question. The transcript would have read like this:

Senadin: Clarification
Speaker to me: Are you giving way?
Me: Not to this gentleman (followed by laughters of others)
Senadin: Why can’t you take clarification?
Pujut: You have no guts
Me to Senadin: Which camp are you from? Camp A or Camp B
Chong: He is camp A
Me to Pujut: Camp A. And which camp are you from? Camp A or Camp B?
Senadin: We have only 1 party
Me: No No No. You are lying. Declare your interest first, which camp are you in, and only then I will answer your question. You are not honest. I won’t answer you. Sit down
Senadin: (sat down)
Pujut: (sat down).

Not so much wit is needed to see their embarrassment recorded in the Hansard for future generations to read.

Opar/SUPP was full of himself when he said that he disdained my accusation that he had no “guts” when I tried to interject during his speech. He said to the constant applause of the BN backbenchers that he had served in the army in defence of the nation, that he had been awarded bravery medals and therefore he had guts. DAP’s guts is only to serve the people, he said. Well, I really could not understand his line of thinking. When I said he had no guts, it was because he shouted “NO!” when I stood to seek clarification of him.

There was no point sitting in the chambers and let them attack us but we were not allowed to reply. It was 5p.m. We decided that we should move off early. Let the monologue in the Dewan continue.

It was 8:30 p.m. and I had landed at the Sibu airport. The sight of my kids is the best consolation, when the hectic drama of the past week would become forgotten.

I had promised them that we would go shopping, to make up for my long absence. As the little boy once again insisted to move forward to join me in the front passenger seat, I recalled the previous occasion when he fell asleep on my lap. Only that it was earlier this time, and he kept telling me he had hurt his legs. Well, he felt the pain when I touched his wound. As for me, I was never wounded, but I suffered the pain too, the pain that many Sarawakians have not waken up.