Rafidah Aziz should be asked to resign as a minister if she continues to play "hide-and-seek' with Parliament by Wednesday, Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang said today.

"There must be zero-tolerance for such ministerial dereliction of duty. If by Wednesday, Rafidah still plays "hide-and-seek" with Parliament, the cabinet should censure Rafidah and ask for her resignation," he said in a statement today.

Lim requested the international trade and industry minister to make amends for her parliamentary absence and contempt for MPs by giving a comprehensive ministerial statement on the Approved Permits (AP) scandal in Parliament on Monday, followed by a full debate, "or she should end her 25-year ministerial career and resign from the cabinet".

Yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said that the cabinet on Wednesday will discuss the grouses of MPs at Rafidah's failure to personally and satisfactorily reply to queries in Parliament related to the AP scandal.

Lim said, "What is worse, Rafidah is now guilty of trying to arm-twist and intimidate Barisan Nasional MPs from speaking up on the AP scandal by her selective and misleading release of the AP list issued to MPs and former MPs which would be a gross breach of parliamentary privilege.

"Why didn't Rafidah make public the full list of MPs issued with APs from 1997, when MPs were first given the entitlement of an AP each? Is it because her own name would have appeared in that list, raising a very serious issue of conflict-of-interest?"

'Bad apple'

The opposition leader added that "it is ridiculous and outrageous for the cabinet to have to waste time to discuss Rafidah's dereliction of duty as a minister to respect and uphold the fundamental principle of ministerial responsibility and accountability".

"If Rafidah who is completing her 25 years as minister this month has forgotten or is contemptuous of the fundamental principle of ministerial responsibility and accountability to Parliament, then she has no business to remain in the cabinet."

"Rafidah has become a "bad apple" setting the most atrocious example to others," Lim added.

He described the minister as a liability in the two-year premiership of Abdullah Ahmad Badawai, advertising the prime minister's failure to impose discipline, leadership by example and good governance starting with the cabinet.

An examination of the parliamentary records in the past decade will show that Rafidah tops the list of ministers with the worst record for parliamentary attendance and appearance in Parliament, Lim added.