Thesun 2009-06-26 Page09 Eye-popping Disclosure About Todt

theSun

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| FRIDAY JUNE 26 2009

news without borders

Eye-popping disclosure about Todt IT WAS an exciting week at the Dewan Rakyat even though the question-and-answer sessions, which usually were the livelier part of sittings, were quite boring. Precious time could certainly have been saved had some MPs just gone to the internet with their questions instead of asking them in the Dewan. Still it was a supplementary question during the Q & A session that started the eye-popping disclosure about former Ferrari Formula One team boss Datuk Seri Jean Todt getting RM1 million to serve as Malaysia’s voluntary tourism ambassador. Azmin Ali (PKR-Gombak) had asked Deputy Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Taib in his supplementary question about Todt’s appointment and his fees as tourism ambassador. Sulaiman did not answer the question on the excuse that it was irrelevant to the original question by Dr Marcus Mojigoh (BNPutatan) who asked about the production of documentary films about Malaysia to attract tourists. Azmin said it was not irrelevant because Datuk Michelle Yeoh,

At the Dewan Rakyat by Zainon Ahmad [email protected]

Todt’s fiancée, was a film director and the appointment needed to be clarified as he had proof that the couple were also offered land. He later talked to the media in the lobby of parliament about the deal which he said was lucrative. When Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen walked into the lobby, the reporters surrounded her for clarification. While the disclosure by the minister shed more light on the appointment, including the fees and rewards, it also begged the question what the tourism ministry’s representatives abroad are doing that required a special ambassador to be appointed. It also demonstrated that the Dewan Rakyat, where the people’s elected representative sit, is more demanding now. Above all, it wants more accountability from the government and its officials. During the vetting of the various bills, for instance, more questions

were asked. In fact, a lively debate ensued during the two days of vetting, clause by clause, of the controversial Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) Identification Bill 2008. It is rare indeed for a bill to be so closely scrutinized where voting on the acceptability of each clause was carried out. Many changes were made to each clause and one whole clause about the conclusiveness of the DNA as evidence in court was dropped completely. The bill was passed on Tuesday. Veteran oppositionist Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur) finally got his wish to say much more about the trouble-ridden Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) project. He held the floor for three hours beginning Tuesday and harangued the BN representatives probably to his heart’s content till noon Wednesday. One of the backbenchers, unable to bear the mocking grin constantly on the oppositionist face, complained to the speaker that he should be addressing the chair instead of looking at them. Kit Siang railed against the various decisions made by the authorities from the time the project was

mooted, the land it had to buy, till the time when it was discovered that it had failed to achieve the objectives for which it was set up. He spared no one and made several allegations against the government Backbenchers Club chairman Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing (Bintulu-BN) who is a major shareholder of Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd which is the turnkey contractor for the project. Tiong protested and asked Kit Siang to make the allegations outside the Dewan instead of hiding behind parliamentary immunity. When others like Siringan Gubat (BN-Ranau) and Datuk Bung Moktar Raden (BN-Kinabatangan) tried to intervene, they were waved away. It seemed the DAP vetaran, speaking during the debate to redistribute allocations for the defunct Ministry of Cooperative and Entrepreneur Development, was unstoppable. When Datuk Tajuddin Abdul Rahman (BN-Pasir Salak) was given the floor, he lambasted the veteran MP and attempted to controvert much of what he said. But unlike Kit Siang, whose

words and diatribes came out in torrents, Tajuddin spoke with a lot of pauses and raucus laughter in between, calculated to let the barbs and insults sink in. Many were apparently displeased with Tajuddin’s style of delivery and attempted to say so but it was only M. Manogaran (DAP-Teluk Intan) who got the chance to express all of their feelings when he said: “Pasir Salak probably had forgotten to take his medicine today.” Tajuddin also dwelt at length on the Perak crisis and belittled the aid that the one-year PAS-led government gave to the Malays, adding that what was given to the Chinese in terms of the value of land they received was much more. Former Perak menteri besar and new MP Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin (PAS-Bukit Gantang) stood up several times to protest but all he managed to say was that Tajuddin was wrong. Others came to Nizar’s aid but it was Azmin and Saifuddin Nasution (PKR-Machang) who put up a strong defence of what Nizar did and referred to him as the “rightful menteri besar of Perak.”