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It's not 'Dewan Shahidan', MPs tell 'idiot' minister
Published:  May 22, 2015 4:37 PM
Updated: 10:07 AM

DAP MPs have poured scorn on Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Shahidan Kassim for refusing to allow the public to know how MPs vote in the House.

Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua called Shahidan an "idiot" for his stance while Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng said the Dewan Rakyat is not "Dewan Shahidan".

"Idiot, it's the basic element of democracy to know how your MPs vote in Parliament.

"No wonder this 'minister' in charge of Parliament got the speaker foaming at the mouth," said Pua ( photo ) in a Facebook posting.

Meanwhile, Lim said Shahidan has no right to rob voters of their right to know how their MPs voted in Parliament and questioned if this was a collective decision by the cabinet.

"Does the speaker, who wanted to resign recently, agree with Shahidan?

"If he disagrees, the speaker should use his mandate as the presiding authority to reprimand Shahidan so that he does not interfere in parliamentary affairs," said Lim.

Speaker handed in resignation letter

In a parliamentary written reply on Wednesday, Shahidan said there was no need to upload the voting record of MPs on the Parliament website.

He added that the bloc voting results are recorded by Parliament and is only distributed to MPs themselves.

His comment comes as Dewan Rakyat Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia ( photo ) threatened to resign over supposed interference in his work by Shahidan.

On Tuesday, a disgruntled Pandikar admitted that he had handed in his resignation letter to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak but later decided to remain in the post.

This, Pandikar said, was after Najib refused to open his letter and promised to address his grouses.

Among Pandikar's unhappiness was over Shahidan, who is in charge of parliamentary affairs, interfering in the former's duties.

BN backbencher chief Sharir Samad had also revealed that Pandikar was upset at the shabby furnishing in his office which did not have a toilet, stating that this could have been the last straw.

Pandikar was forced to make a public statement despite his aborted resignation after former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad revealed the matter in a talk last Sunday.

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