Parliament round-up: A week of high drama
Malaysiakini.com
Jun 27, 2008
Beh Lih Yi 

It was a week of high drama in Parliament. It started with a plan to table a no-confidence vote which did not take place and later on an unprecedented media boycott outside the House.
MCPX

The Dewan Rakyat was all packed both inside and outside when it reconvened on Monday for the second session of the 12th Parliament, after a three-week hiatus.

abdullah ahmad badawi bn and yong teck lee and sappThat was because the Sabah Progressive Party (Sapp), a Barisan Nasional component party, has said earlier that it planned to move a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in the House.            

However, it was an anti-climax when the two Sapp MPs staged a no-show in the House. The party later claimed they were recalled to Sabah on ground of alleged security threats.

Nevertheless, the opposition who knew that any no-confidence motion is unlikely to see the light of day have instead trained their eyes on a government motion seeking to get the House’s approval on the fuel-hike decision.

The oppositions have argued that should the motion be defeated, it could tantamount to a no-confidence on Abdullah and his unpopular decision to slash oil subsidies.

However, after a day-long debate, the motion was carried with 129 votes, while 78 against.

Debate on 9MP review next week

On Tuesday, the focus of attention was not the MPs or proceedings in the House but on the more than 100 journalists on Parliament  beat.

journalist media barred from parliament lobby area 240608 09The journalists from the print, online and electronic media decided to boycott any news conferences held outside of the chamber after the Parliament administration abruptly cordoned off the building’s lobby, much to their dismay.

Even Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his deputy Najib Abdul Razak were not spared as their press conferences held at the Parliament building on the day was not covered by the journalists, except stated-owned Bernama and RTM, and the foreign wires.

A Pakatan Rakyat MPs press conference was also boycotted.     

On the day also, an emergency motion tabled by Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timor) to debate the news allegations made by blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin on the Altantuya Shaariibuu was shot down by the House.

A day after the boycott, the Parliament administration appeared to have backed down from the ruling when it did not re-erect the barricades which were ‘torn down’ by a group of backbenchers on Tuesday itself. The journalists were also allowed to move around freely.

At the same time, nobody seemed to be willing to take the blame for the controversial ruling. Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz claimed he was not involved while Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia argued it was just a misunderstanding.

najib rosmah and altantuya murder caseThe Altantuya issue also went beyond the walls of the chamber when Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, chairing a meeting in Parliament, denied his wife Rosmah Mansor was present at the murder scene of Altantuya as alleged by Raja Petra.

The prime minister unveiled the mid-term review report of the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP) on Thursday, which among others included the government’s move to seek RM30 billion more for the plan and its decision to shelve two mega projects in Penang.

The sitting was adjourned soon after Abdullah finished tabling the report, to allow MPs to have time over the weekend to prepare for the debate on the report next week.

The session for the whole of next week will be allocated to debate on the 9MP mid-term review plan and the relevant ministries will reply to points raised the week after.

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