The opposition today accused a deputy minister of misleading Parliament on the issue of bumiputera corporate equity ownership and sought to have him punished.

But Dewan Rakyat Speaker Ramli Ngah Talib said that while statistics cited by Deputy Finance Minister Dr Awang Adek Hussin have given rise to confusion, he said disciplinary action against him was not warranted.

Last Tuesday, Awang Adek told the House that bumiputera share ownership on Bursa Malaysia had hit 36.6 percent last year.

However, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Effendi Norwawi clarified in a press statement yesterday evening that the figure was inaccurate as it should stand at 21.8 percent.

"I agree there is confusion, but I believe they (Effendi and Awang Adek) did not have any intention to mislead the House," said Ramli in rejecting an opposition motion today, seeking disciplinary action against the duo.

"I hope they can offer an explanation at a later time in this House."

His ruling was in response to a motion by Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timor) under Standing Order 26 (1)(p) seeking to refer Effendi and Awang Adek to the Parliamentary Privileges Committee for disciplinary action.

Citing Effendi's remark that Awang Adek had made an inaccurate statement in the House by revealing the 36.6 percent figure, Lim said this indicated that the deputy finance minister had "clearly misled the House and the nation".

Wrong place

Meanwhile, Lim also argued that Effendi's statement was tantamount to 'contempt of Parliament'.

"A clarification of any government statement made in the House should be made inside the House, as otherwise it is a blatant case of contempt of Parliament.

"(In) this case, such contempt has been doubly compounded as such clarification was timed for the Umno general assembly instead of rectifying a misleading statement made in Parliament."

Effendi and Awang Adek were not present in the House today.

In a statement issued later, Lim said the dramatic retraction of the 36.6 percent figure has created a further poser over the credibility of government figures. He also wondered how the professionally-trained Awang Adek could have made such "simple but fundamental" mistake.

"Dr Awang Adek ( photo ) is no ordinary Umno MP but belongs to the breed of professionals and technocrats and had been bruited as potential for the post of finance minister," he said.

Awang Adek holds a PhD in economics and had once served Bank Negara as an assistant governor.

Lim urged him to clearly state whether he had been made a scapegoat for a statement "which was clearly politically motivated as it was rushed out late last night in time for the debates in the Umno Youth and Umno assemblies".

Methodology inaccurate

In retracting the 36.6 percent figure yesterday, Effendi - who oversees the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) - said the methodology used in deriving the earlier figure was wrong because it apportioned 45 percent of equity ownership held by nominee companies to bumiputeras.

According to him, bumiputera ownership in the nominee companies is only at 8.3 percent.

Effendi also argued that the earlier figure assumed equity held by government agencies are owned by bumiputeras.

He reaffirmed the overall corporate equity ownership of bumiputera as at December 2004 was 18.9 percent, as set out in the Ninth Malaysia Plan.

Since Awang Adek's revelation last week, pressure has been mounting on the government to discontinue the New Economic Policy (NEP) on the basis that the 30 percent bumiputera equity ownership target has been exceeded.

There has been heated public debate over the NEP lately, after separate studies by think-tank Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute and Universiti Malaya found that the NEP target has been achieved.

Critics have alleged that the government undervalues the equity ownership to justify continuation of the NEP and its related policies, which give favourable treatment to bumiputeras.