KUALA LUMPUR: Dewan Rakyat Deputy Speaker Datuk Rashid Hasnon has reprimanded ministers and deputy ministers for their absence in Parliament.
Reminding them of their duties, he said they should be more disciplined.
“I want to advise the ministers to be more disciplined... as per what has been laid out, if they cannot attend, they have to ensure that their deputies are around to answer questions (from the members of parliament).
“Priority should be placed on attendance at the Dewan Rakyat... if there are other duties to attend to, then things need to be arranged accordingly and as well as can be,” he told reporters in the lobby of Parliament.
Rashid was asked to comment on the ruckus which occurred during question time.
Things became heated when neither the home minister nor his deputy were around to answer a question from Ali Biju (PH-Saratok), who had asked about the status of the ministry’s plans to build a new Saratok district police headquarters.
The question was answered by Deputy Economic Affairs Minister Dr Mohd Radzi Md Jinin, representing the Home Ministry.
Opposition MPs, however, took the government to task as Radzi was unable to answer a supplementary question.
Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong (BN-Ayer Hitam) then stood up, saying that he understood that maybe Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was unable to attend as he could be receiving treatment.
However, he said, Muhyiddin’s deputy Datuk Mohd Azis Jamman should have been there as the supplementary question was a specific one which would require either the minister or his deputy to answer.
To calm things down, Rashid said the Speaker would issue orders on the matter.
But things became even more heated when Radzi was unable to answer another supplementary question from opposition leader Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi over the change of status of land meant for housing for policemen.
Things only calmed down somewhat when Radzi promised to get a written answer on the matter.
Wee, speaking to reporters later, said he could not remember a time when a minister and his deputy had not been around in Parliament to answer questions.
“As far as I know, during BN’s time, this never happened. Questions are only answered by them, or in the case of the Prime Minister’s Department, by another minister but also from the same department.
Wee also said it was not just question time when the ministers and deputies were absent, but also during debates.
“Yesterday (Wednesday), four times we took pictures of empty seats on ‘the other side’ (where the ministers and deputy ministers sit)... they were all empty.”