Azalina slams MPs for being disrespectful to Dewan Negara

KUALA LUMPUR: Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Azalina Othman Said today accused several Opposition MPs of being disrespectful to the Dewan Negara by holding a press conference at the Parliament lobby when the house was in session.

She said MPs should have applied for approval in writing and the matter could have been discussed if they had a pressing need to hold the press conference.

“Although they have the right (to hold a press conference), it is not right for them to disturb the Dewan Negara sitting.

“I was shocked when I came to know of this. They can hold their press conference elsewhere, such as at their own office.

“How can they be expected to administer the country when they do not respect the law, the host and the Dewan Negara?” she told reporters after Canada’s High Commissioner to Malaysia Judith St George called on her at Parliament House.

Last Tuesday, DAP Kepong MP Dr Tan Seng Giaw, who is Public Accounts Committee vice-chairman, along with Tony Pua (DAP-Petaling Jaya Utara), Kamarul Baharin (PKR-Telok Kemang) and William Leong (PKR-Selayang), held a press conference on the PAC report on 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

Dewan Negara president Abu Zahar Ujang, who happened to pass by, ordered them to call off the press conference.

Asked about the claim by Pua that several sentences in the PAC 1MDB report had been removed, particularly on the discussion between National Audit Department officers and PAC members, Azalina said: “He (Tony Pua) has to bring up the matter at the PAC meeting. Why must he raise a hue and cry here?”

She said Pua was a member of the PAC and after the 1MDB report was released, he said he was only 80% satisfied with the report.

“If that’s the case, it would have been better for him to have opted out as a PAC member,” she said.

On the courtesy call by St George, Azalina said they exchanged views on matters pertaining to parliamentary reformation.

She said she would head the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Reformation and would make a working visit to the Canadian Parliament next month.

“The visit is specifically to study the committee system implemented in the Canadian Parliament,” she said.

– BERNAMA

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