Thesun 2009-02-24 Page06 Govt Must Offer Rm5

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theSun

| TUESDAY FEBRUARY 24 2009

news without borders Maria J. Dass and Giam Say Khoon at the Dewan Rakyat yesterday

Speaker should be impartial: Pandikar Amin KUALA LUMPUR: A speaker should be impartial and well aware of the consequences of his actions to the House and the people as a whole, Parliament Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia said. He said that if a person were appointed speaker, “you are the speaker of that particular Parliament or state assembly and do not belong to any political party or benefit a particular party”. A speaker should not be a servant to a certain political party, he said here yesterday after opening the first sub-committee meeting of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) on the global financial crisis and its impact. Pandikar Amin was speaking to reporters when asked to comment on the constitutional crisis in Perak. The Perak State Legislative Assembly’s rights and privileges committee, chaired by the assembly’s Speaker V. Sivakumar, announced on Feb 16 that the committee had suspended Mentri Besar Datuk Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir and his six executive council members from the assembly “for contempt of the assembly”. Zambry and the executive councillors were barred for 18 months and 12 months re-

spectively. Sivakumar was reported to have also sought the consent of the Sultan of Perak, Sultan Azlan Shah, to convene a special sitting soon. Former Perak mentri besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin said on Sunday Pakatan Rakyat would at the sitting table a motion of confidence in him as the legitimate mentri besar. Pandikar Amin said: “He (Sivakumar) should know better what he is doing, of how his decision is going to affect the people and the nation and not just a fraction of society.” Citing himself as example, Pandikar Amin said that when he was appointed Parliament speaker last April, he resigned as Kota Marudu Umno division head, wishing to be seen to be fair in his decisions. He said the Perak crisis had not benefited anyone, especially at a time of a global economic downturn. On the APA meeting, Pandikar Amin, who is also the sub-committee chairman, said it is hoped the participants will find possible solutions to the slowdown. The meeting which ends today, sees the participation of nine APA member countries including Bahrain, Kuwait, Indonesia and Cambodia. – Bernama

No plan to amend Article 11 THERE is no plan to amend Article 11 of the Federal Constitution following a Federal Court ruling in the case of Lina Joy and Federal Territory Religious Department & Anon. Responding to a question from Zulkifli Nordin (PKR-Kulim Bandar Baru), Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz said: “The judgment stated that Article 11(1) of the Constitution was not relevant to be argued as a provision to allow absolute freedom of conversion.” Lina’s application was dismissed for failure to obtain a declaration from the syariah court, which has jurisdiction over her decision to give up Islam. “The chief justice too is of the opinion that embracing Islam does not mean practising it in theology only, without taking into account the laws of the religion,” Nazri said. The National Registration Department’s requirement of a certificate from the syariah court declaring that Lina was an apostate before removing “Islam” from her identity card is therefore supported by law, he said.

‘Govt must offer RM5.71b or less for water companies’ SELANGOR will back the federal government’s negotiations with the state’s four water concession companies if it offers to take over the companies for RM5.71 billion or less. Selangor Water Review Panel member and Klang MP Charles Santiago said there was already media speculation quoting government sources as saying the government through the National Water Services Commission (Span) was ready to make an offer of RM9 billion as part of the restructuring process. The panel said in a statement: “If the ministry offers the concessionaires a much higher cash value for their assets as well as lucrative licence terms to continue as water operators in the state, the minister must explain why he is forsaking the rights and interests of the 7.3 million people of Selangor, Wilayah Persekutuan and Putrajaya.” On Feb 13, the state made an offer of RM5.71 billion to buy out the four privatised water service providers Puncak Niaga Sdn Bhd, Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas), Syarikat Pengeluar Air Sungai Selangor Sdn Bhd and Konsortium Abbas.

Speaking to newsmen in the Parliament lobby, Santiago, who is economic consultant to various international bodies, said: “We have the numbers, we have the information and documents, and we have done enough evaluation and consultation to argue why the offer should be RM5.7 billion. “If the government of Malaysia wants to offer RM9 billion, especially at a time of major crisis, this would constitute a bailout of the concessionaires.” On Feb 18, two days before the deadline for the companies to respond to the state’s offer, the Energy, Water and Communications Ministry through Span chief executive officer Datuk Teo Yen Hua announced the federal government would proceed to negotiate directly with the concessionaires. Accusing Span of acting in bad faith and in favour of the concessionaires, the panel via a statement read out by Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua said: “Span intentionally threw a spanner in the works to sabotage the state’s attempt to deliver the lowest possible water tariffs to her people.” This interference, it says, single-handedly destroyed any likelihood of a positive

response to the state from the concessionaires. The panel also called upon the minister, Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor, to examine the concession agreement with Syabas on a number of counts, considering that the national audit department which undertook a due diligence study of the agreement had said the company had not met the stipulated requirements. “If this is true, then the ministry must begin the process of terminating the concession agreement with the state and the federal government of Malaysia,” Santiago said. The panel had earlier asked the minister to step in to address the matter as he had the power to do so, providing a reminder that under the Water Services Industry Act 2006, the state is a counter-party to all previous and future agreements, and any attempt to unilaterally negotiate with concessionaires is illegal and will be subject to future dispute and complications. Panel members – Selayang MP and lawyer William Leong and Kuala Selangor MP and toxicologist Dr Dzulkifli Ahmad – were present at the press conference.

Kugan’s death sparks lively debate THE fate of police detainees, selective investigations, the need to check on the police force and political parties fighting for the rights of a particular race dominated the debates in the afternoon. Datuk Seri Abdul Ghapur Salleh (BN-Kalabakan) asked for an independent enquiry to be set up to investigate the death of suspected car thief S. Kugan, 22, while in police custody in mid-January. “From what we see from pictures, it looks like he was abused and therefore it is only right that an inquiry free of links with the police be set up to investigate whether Kugan was abused,” he said. Abdul Ghapur also asked why the police were quick to investigate the involvement of two deputy ministers from the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk T. Murugiah and Datuk K. Devamany who showed up at the mortuary instead of focusing their energy on investigating the abuse to Kugan. M. Kulasegaran (DAP-Ipoh Barat)

asked why no action was taken on police reports lodged against blog Mykmu.net that incited the murder of Perak state legislative assembly Speaker V. Sivakumar. An argument ensued between Kulasegaran, Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid (BN-Padang Besar), Datuk Mohd Puad Zarkashi (BN-Batu Pahat), Datuk Lilah Yasin (BN-Jempol) and Datuk Jamaluddin Jarjis (BN-Rompin) when Kulasegaran read out contents of the blog and accused Umno of being racist. Jamaluddin shouted: “He is just protecting the interest of his race by hurting the feelings of another race, he is reading out a poison pen letter for the interest of his own race, retract your racist statement.” Kulasegaran then denied that he was speaking along racial lines and challenged BN MPs to stand up and condemn the death threat against Sivakumar. However, Mohd Puad and Lilah insisted that he retracted the statement calling

Umno a racist party. Deputy Speaker Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar then asked Kulasegaran to retract the statement saying: “It is OK if you use the term racial (party) but not racist (party).” “Both the terms mean the same thing to me,” Kulasegaran said before retracting the statement. Dr Hatta Ramli (PAS-Kuala Krai) then pointed out that the contents of the blog clearly showed that it was written by an Umno supporter and Kulasegaran interjected: “That’s why I asked the MPs to condemn threat to murder but they do not want to do so, which means they support it.” Mohd Puad accused N. Gobalakrishnan (PKR-Padang Serai) of speaking up for only his race when he stood up to speak on the death of six youths in his constituency. “I never mentioned race,” Gobalakrishnan responded before Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia calmed the situation by asking Mohd Puad to sit down.