Parliamentary records show that the Minister for Works, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu is the most diligent of the seven Cabinet Ministers who occupy the front row in the Dewan Rakyat in discharging Parliamentary duties this year during question hour, and for this Samy Vellu should be commended.
The first front row of the government in the Dewan Rakyat is occupied by the seven most senior Cabinet Ministers. Led by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, the other six senior Cabinet Ministers in the front row are (in terms of seniority) the Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, the Minister for Transport, Datuk Seri Dr. Ling Liong Sik, the Minister for Works, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, the Minister for Primary Industries, Datuk Dr. Lim Keng Yaik, the Minister for Energy, Telecommunications and Posts, Datuk Leo Moggie and the Minister for International Trade and Industry, Datuk Paduka Rafidah Aziz.
A check with Parliamentary records this year shows that Samy Vellu had attended Parliament on nine separate sittings to personally answer questions during the question time, followed by Dr. Mahathir, Anwar Ibrahim and Rafidah Aziz, all three of whom had attended Parliament on two separate occasions each to answer parliamentary questions.
Leo Moggie had only turned up in Parliament once this year during question time, which was on Tuesday this week, when answering my question on the outcome of the Prime Minister’s attendance of the World Solar Summit Conference in Harare, Zimbabwe in September and the government’s plan on the use of alternative energy.
Both Ling Liong Sik and Lim Keng Yaik had never attended Parliament during question time to answer questions pertaining to their Ministries during the whole of this year, although Parliament is meeting for the fourth time this year!
If Samy Vellu can be in Parliament for at least nine days to answer Parliamentary questions in four Parliamentary meetings this year, there is no reason why Liong Sik and Keng Yaik cannot be equally diligent in the discharge of their parliamentary duties.
In any event, there can be no excuse whatsoever for any Cabinet Minister to show a poorer record than either the Prime Minister or the Deputy Prime Minister in terms of diligence in attending Parliament to answer parliamentary questions - unless Liong Sik and Keng Yaik claim that they were even busier than both the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister!
This parliamentary record shows that the problem of Ministers, Deputy Ministers and MPs playing `truant’ which Anwar is trying to weed out with his warning directive recently has reached very high Cabinet levels.
A Cabinet Minister who had impressed MPs with his parliamentary diligence is the Minister for Education, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who personally guided seven education bills through the Dewan Rakyat after the April 1995 general elections, not only introducing the second readings but also replying to the MPs who took part in the debate on the Bills.
In the current Parliament, the Prime Minister had introduced the debate on the Seventh Malaysia Plan, while the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had introduced the 1996 and 1997 Budgets, as well as replying to the debates on the Seventh Malaysia Plan and the 1996 and 1997 Budgets.
In contrast, although four transport bills had been passed by Parliament since the last general elections, the Minister for Transport, Datuk Dr. Ling Liong Sik had not bothered to attend Parliament to introduce a single one of them, or even to be present in Parliament to reply to the debate by MPs for anyone of these bills.
The Cabinet, at its meeting next Wednesday, should resolve that all Cabinet Ministers should improve their parliamentary attendance and upgrade their parliamentary performance as an example to all MPs, so that Malaysia would not enjoy the dubious record of having the most number of Ministers playing ‘truant’ from their parliamentary duties.
For a start, all Ministers should personally reply to the points raised by MPs in the 1997 Budget debate unless they can give good and convincing reason to Parliament why they have to be absent and delegate this task to Deputy Ministers.
(8/11/96)