Probe whether a senior Minister had blocked MP for Teluk Intan Nga Kor Ming from presiding over the afternoon session of Monday’s parliamentary meeting

I had said yesterday that the Parliamentary Committee of Privileges should probe whether a senior Minister had blocked the Member of Parliament for Teluk Intan, Nga Kor Ming, from presiding over the afternoon session of Monday’s parliamentary meeting.

On Tuesday, the MP for Puchong Gobind Singh Deo (pictured) had challenged the Minister for International Trade and Industries Azmin Ali to admit that he was the senior minister who blocked Nga from presiding over the afternoon session of Monday’s parliamentary meeting, but Azmin avoided the subject on the ground that it was then a question-and-answer session.

Although the Speaker, Azhar Azizan  Harun had said that he changed his mind to ask the MP for Teluk Intan to chair the afternoon session of the Monday proceeding without any pressure, the question remained whether a senior minister had tried to block Kor Ming’s chairing of Parliament and whether this was unacceptable behaviour for a Senior Minister and  whether it constituted a breach of -parliamentary privilege.

The matter should be probed the Parliamentary Committee of Privileges. As the Speaker is the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee of Privileges, Azhar should excuse himself from this probe which should be conducted by the rest of the Privileges Committee.

Lim Kit Siang

MP for Iskandar Puteri