Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur) asked if the government will campaign for the appointment of a Malaysian candidate for the post of Commonwealth secretary-general when it falls vacant.

He suggested the name of former deputy premier Musa Hitam.

Responding to the query, Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told the Dewan Rakyat today that the government will do so when it has the right candidate to campaign for.

"Normally we have to look into three factors before deciding whether or not to nominate and campaign for a candidate," he said.

According to Syed Hamid, the government will look into the qualification of the candidate, his or her interest for the post and the chances of the candidate winning the post.

He said the government has several names but these individuals appear to be uninterested in holding the post.

"When we have a possible candidate, we will discuss it with other Asian countries and try to come to an understanding where we will try to stop other countries from contesting, thus maximising the chances of victory for our candidate," he added.

To a supplementary question by Mohamad Aziz (BN-Sri Gading) on why the government does not want to nominate Musa, the minister replied that the former deputy premier is not keen about it.

Ministers absent

In another development, M Kulasegaran (DAP-Ipoh Barat) questioned the absence of the Human Resources Minister Dr Fong Chan Onn and his deputy Abdul Rahman Bakar from Parliament today.

In a statement, he said when a question was posed to the ministry, Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Ministry parliamentary secretary Rohani Abdul Karim stood up and said she will answer on behalf of the Human Resources Ministry.

"I asked a supplementary question and first asked the Speaker as to why the minister and his deputy were absent and how is it proper for the parliamentary secretary of a different ministry to answer on behalf of the Human Resource Ministry," he added.

However, he claimed that the speaker sidestepped the question and proceeded to the next question.

Kulasegaran said he told the speaker that he had a supplementary question related to the Social Security Department (Socso), to which Rohani responded.

"She informed the House that a written reply would be provided on the matter I raised. She could not answer as she is not aware of what is happening in Socso," he said.

Kulasegaran said the absence of ministers from Parliament reflected their lack of responsibility and accountability.