KUALA LUMPUR – The government has been urged to end the “sudden” practice of getting a deputy minister from another portfolio to answer a question from an MP during the ministerial Q&A session.
Taking to Facebook, today, Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong said at least one person, be it the minister or the deputy minister, must standby to come to Parliament at any given time when the Dewan Rakyat is in session.
“Today’s Q&A session at Dewan Rakyat is something out of the ordinary, whereby the 8th question asked by Masjid Tanah MP Datuk Mas Ermieyati was not answered by the health minister or deputy health minister.
“The original question was about whether the services of local nurses are sufficient, which was (instead) answered by the Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Deputy Minister K.Saraswathy, who represented the Health Ministry,” he said.
He said Sarawathy told the Dewan Rakyat that the health minister could not make it to the sittings at the 11th hour due to other important matters, while the deputy health minister was attending a programme in Johor Bahru and could not make it back to answer questions in the august house.
“Based on my experience of close to two decades in Parliament, such a thing should not have happened at all.
“Ministers or deputy ministers should not attend any programmes outside of Kuala Lumpur when the Dewan Rakyat sittings are in session, no matter what the justification is,” he said.
Wee also expressed disappointment over Saraswathy’s subsequent response to Mas Ermieyati when asked about the minister and deputy minister’s absence.
“When questioned by the PAC chairman about the absence of the minister and deputy minister of health, Saraswathy claimed that it was an ‘accusation’.
“I was confused by this answer given by the deputy minister.
“I think it is most inappropriate for the government (MP) to answer a question in such a manner.”
Such an answer, he opined, will only provide the opposition ammunition to attack the government because the ministries involved in answering oral questions have been informed in advance.
“Moreover, today’s oral questions had been distributed to all MPs at 4pm yesterday.
“How could the deputy health minister attend an event in Johor Bahru when the Parliament sitting is still ongoing and when it is the Health Ministry’s turn to answer questions?”
He called on the ministry officials to inform the Dewan Rakyat secretary should both minister and deputy minister be unable to attend sittings so that the questions to be answered will not be selected.
“It is easy to make such an arrangement.
“I hope the government will take the criticism from MPs with an open heart. It is not easy to get our questions selected to be answered by the minister.
“Furthermore, getting a deputy minister from another portfolio to answer the original question from an MP is not the conventional practice and we must put an end to such a practice.
“Hopefully the government will admit to any wrongdoings and ensure that the same mistakes will not be repeated. I believe this is what the prime minister would like to see when he talks about good attitudes and reform,” he added.
A similar instance also occurred during yesterday’s Dewan Rakyat session, when the seventh question posed by Onn Abu Bakar (Batu Pahat-PH) to the Economy Ministry on the consumer price index was instead answered by Akmal Nasir (Johor Bahru-PH) who is the deputy minister of local government development. – October 26, 2023