KUALA LUMPUR, 22 Oct: The House of Representatives rejected an oral question by the Member of Parliament for Bagan, Lim Guan Eng, on the issue of the RM52 billion shares which were supposed to be given to Bumiputeras because the matter was deemed ‘trivial’ and ‘superficial’.
The refusal, as stated in a letter, was on grounds that a query cannot contain any argument, thought, accusation, praise or vilification or contain any misleading words, sarcastic or offensive, or regarding anything superficial or requesting information on trivial matters.
Guan Eng, who is also the Chief Minister of Penang, said that the reason for the refusal is unreasonable and contrary to the principles of democracy.
“What has happened pollutes the smooth operation of Parliament as the supreme body in the government. If they (House of Representatives) think certain sentences are inappropriate, they can filter sentences which they deem offensive.
“The issue of lost shares is not trivial, so why is the question rejected with the same reason? They gave their own trivial reasons to questions raised,” he said in a press conference at the Parliament lobby today.
Prior to this, Guan Eng asked the government to explain why a Royal Commission of Inquiry was not established to investigate the biggest scandal in Malaysia involving the loss of RM52 billion shares which should have been given to Bumiputeras.
“It is not because we want these shares, but it is a big issue which needs to be investigated so that the missing shares can be found and distributed to the poor,” he said.
He said that the application was made based on an article published by Bernama dated 20 June 2009, where the Prime Minister had been quoted as saying that of the RM54 billion in shares allocated, only RM2 billion worth of shares were left in the hands of Bumiputeras.