Tourism Minister Azalina Othman Said came under fire from opposition parliamentarians who accused her of misleading the House pertaining to the allegation that she ordered the cancellation of tourism events in Pakatan Rakyat-controlled states.

azalina othman 02 During Azalina’s winding-up speech today on the royal address debate, the minister was asked by Fong Po Kuan (DAP Batu Gajah) to clarify the allegation.

The minister denied the allegation, saying that the events slated to take place in the states were proceeding as scheduled.

This led Azmin Ali (PKR-Gombak) to urge deputy speaker Ronald Kiandee to refer Azalina to the parliamentary disciplinary committee for ‘lying’.

"I have documentary evidence that Azalina instructed the cancellation of tourism events scheduled to take place in opposition-controlled states and yet she denies it.

azmin ali "I urge the deputy speaker to refer the minister to the disciplinary committee for misleading the House (by giving a false answer)," he said.

However, Kiandee said he found no reason to do so and that the minister should be given the opportunity to clarify the matter.

This decision led several opposition MPs to rise from their seats in protest.

DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang (Ipoh Timur) argued that Azmin had every right to make the motion as Azalina had ‘clearly broken’ parliamentary rules by allegedly giving false facts.

At this juncture, Azmin once again told the House that he has documentary evidence in the form of a memo from a Tourism Ministry meeting which allegedly proved that the minister instructed the cancellation.

Kiandee maintained that it was unnecessary to refer Azalina to the parliamentary disciplinary committee as the minister was there to clarify the matter.

Allocations have been given

"As you can see, allocations have been given out to all the events that is to take place in the opposition-controlled states and if you have any evidence that suggests otherwise, I urge you to show it," retorted Azalina

This led to cries of disagreement from the opposition half in the House while Fong and Lim stood up to argue with Kiandee that there was no need to get permission from him in order to refer Azalina to the disciplinary committee.

Their protests however came to no avail as Kiandee said that according to the rules, any decision made by the speaker cannot be questioned.

Shortly after the March 8 polls, Azalina had allegedly terminated the tourism MoUs along with the Tourism Action Councils in opposition-controlled states.

The decision affected four states - Selangor, Penang, Kedah and Perak - and would result in cutting millions of ringgit of federal funding for tourism promotion campaigns.

However, the minister had previously refuted the allegation at a press conference.