SIAP, PKFZ scandal, Karpal mobbing case heat up in House

KUALA LUMPUR: The Enforcement Agencies Integrity Commission (SIAP) Bill 2009, Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal and the report on the mobbing of Karpal Singh at Parliament House were among the subjects of heated debate at the Dewan Rakyat this week.

The winding up of the SIAP Bill on Tuesday saw heated arguments between Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz and Opposition veteran Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur). Lim, who is also DAP Advisor, kept on interjecting the session in total disregard to Parliamentary Standing Orders complaining about the sidelining of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission recommended by the Royal Police Commission to Enhance the Management and Operation of the Royal Malaysia Police.

Lim also described SIAP as a referral post-office due to its limited scope. “Why can’t we have a SIAP which is really complete? A credible commission with power to investigate all complaints. Not just a high powered, high paid referral post-office,” he said.

In his explanation, Mohamed Nazri said SIAP was not a commission that would take over the power and responsibility of other commissions or disciplinary bodies, but was aimed at ensuring public complaints on enforcement officer’s misconduct would be attended to.

A war of words also broke out between Karpal Singh (DAP-Bukit Gelugor) and Khairy Jamaluddin (BN-Rembau) during the debate on the recommendations made by the parliamentary select committee that probed the incident where Karpal was mobbed by Umno Youth members outside Parliament House in February. It ended up with Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia ordering Karpal out of the Dewan for refusing to retract his words that Khairy was a corrupt person.

Although the motion was accepted, eight opposition members of parliament (MPs) were admonished for failure to attend the committee’s hearings and cooperate with the inquiry while four Umno Youth members were fined RM1,000 each for the mobbing incident.

The PKFZ scandal also caused a stir in the Dewan when several MPs lamented that they had yet to receive the documents on the Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) position review on the project.

M.Kulasegaran (DAP-Ipoh Timur) wanted to know why the documents were not distributed to the MPs as promised by Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat, despite PKFZ having sent 300 copies of the documents to Parliament’s secretary.

In his explanation, Deputy Speaker Datuk Ronald Kiandee said the documents were handed to the secretary in his capacity as the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the documents were not for distribution to MPs. Outside the Dewan, PAC chairman Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid said a full report on the PKFZ scandal would be ready in three months and would be tabled in Parliament at its sitting in October.

This sitting of the Dewan Rakyat also saw four bills passed namely the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission Bill 2009 and Central Bank of Malaysia Bill 2009, Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Amendment) Bill 2009, and Small and Medium Industries Development Corporation (Amendment) Bill 2009.