No such thing as a minority report, says Pandikar

The Dewan Rakyat speaker today rejected Pakatan Rakyat's motion to append a minority report to the report of the parliamentary select committee (PSC) on electoral reform.

Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia ( right ) rejected the motion filed by three MPS yesterday on grounds that there is no provision under the Standing Orders giving him the "power" to change the report.

"There is no such thing as a minority report, only differing views," said Pandikar, citing excerpts from parliamentary practice in New Zealand.

"There is only a report presented to the House via the same committee. The minority or differing views of members will be indicated in the report," he said.

Pandikar said a report tabled in Parliament has to embody the opinion of the committee and not that of "individual members".

"If you want (to make) the change, it (should be) under Standing Ordera 83(12)(a), where it states that a member of a select committee can bring a report to be considered by a committee...

"I was made to understand that the attachment the three of you had submitted to me wasn't even tabled before the committee."

However, the rejection had opposition MPs arguing that there are precedents for minority reports to be attached to reports in other Parliaments in Commonwealth countries.

Kamaruddin Jaafar (PAS-Tumpat) pointed out that last year the Jamaican Parliament had recognised a minority report from MPs on the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC)

"A minority report by members on the PAAC - which is equivalent to our PAC (Public Accounts Committee) - was presented to the House of Representatives after it was blacked out by government members," said Kamaruddin citing excerpts from the Jamaican Hansard.

R Sivarasa (PKR-Subang) similarly provided examples from Britain's House of Commons and argued that it was "inaccurate" for Pandikar to assert that minority reports are not recognised.

"The House of Commons had mooted a committee on abortion to prepare a report and there's a minority report by those on the committee," he said.

"I quote excerpts: 'The Christian Medical Fellowship has dismissed as deeply flawed the parliamentary select committee on abortion and instead pointed people to the minority report tabled... which it says give a more balanced objective and balanced overview of the scientific evidence'."

Cutting across the opposition's contention,Idris Haron (BN-Tangga Batu) urged the speaker not to adopt the precedents.

"Don't do it... it has not been practised in our Parliament. If you do, we will lose our way," shouted Idris, amidst the din in the House.

Azmin Ali (PKR-Gombak, left) denied that there had been no request to the PSC to include the minority report.

"It is true that we couldn't submit (the minority) report at the committee stage but that was because the PSC chair and the Parliament secretary had rejected it. But the issues (in the report) were brought up before the committee," countered Azmin.

However, Pandikar turned a deaf ear to the precedents offered and the arguments made, saying: "Enough! I don't want to listen to anybody any more regarding this.

"I've made a decision (in rejecting the motion) through the letter I've sent to the three representatives."

'Room provided for dissent'

At a press conference later in the Parliament lobby, PSC chairperson Maximus Ongkili said the dissenting views of the three opposition MPs who sat on the committee have been included in the full report.

"It is already inside. So what's the question about the minority report?" he asked.

He acknowledged that the trio had informed the panel of the opposition’s intention to submit a minority report but said they did not hand in a draft of the document.

In any case, they had only disagreed with four of the 22 recommendations of the committee.

"So I told (the panel) to vote on (this) and the majority vote was to maintain the report as is."

Maximus said he had given the trio space in the report to record their dissent to the four points.

He suggested that they submit their document to the House, if the speaker allows it, instead of trying to append it to the PSC report.

Responding to opposition claims that the committee had failed in its duty to promote electoral reform, Maximus said this is a politically motivated jibe.

"If we have failed, why did they stay until the end? ... If they want to use it for political mileage, (then) for goodness' sake please be sensible," he said.

The division of votes in PSC