Thursday May 1, 2008
First session a total waste of time, says Hishammuddin
EDUCATION Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said that as a minister he wanted to reply to questions posed that affected the public, but found the first session in Parliament a total waste of time.
“I am very disappointed with the behaviour of the Opposition MPs, who have no respect. Once there are elected MPs, they must learn how to be respectful.
“We want to show a new Parliament, and this is what we see today. It is a very bad sign.
“It was better for me to be at the ministry to do some work. I think I will be outside drinking more coffee,” he added.
The Sembrong MP said that if the situation persisted, the public would describe the Dewan Rakyat as a circus.
“There were only three questions in 90 minutes; such a thing has never happened before in the history of Dewan Rakyat,” he said.
Health Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai said the august House should not be turned into a shouting arena.
“We hold the hopes and wishes of our voters. They want us to come to Parliament as their voice of reason, and we must live up to expectations.
“Let’s move on to serious business and not waste time,” said Liow.
Kangar MP Datuk Seri Mohd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad said most people wanted to be in the news since it was the first day of the session.
He believed things would settle down after the initial excitement.
“Maybe some are testing the Speaker, while the rest want to hear their own voice.
“I expected this. It will be all right in two or three days' time,” he added.
Bagan MP Lim Guan Eng said he was disappointed when the Speaker did not allow supplementary questions to be asked.
He said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had to intervene and ask the Speaker to allow the supplementary questions to be asked.
“Anyway it is his (the Speaker's) first day, and we will give him a chance,” he added.
His father, Lim Kit Siang, the MP for Ipoh Timur, said it was unprecedented for parliamentarians to be disallowed supplementary questions, and this made question hour totally irrelevant.
“Such a thing has never happened before in any Parliament, because the purpose of question time is to follow-up to the questions,” he said.
“It is not to come and prepare questions and answers. This can be done without having a Parliament session. The supplementary questions are the ones that make the difference.”
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