I read with the keenest interest Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's tabling of a motion in parliament which sent Karpal Singh's oath-taking controversy case to the parliament's Privileges Committee for further action.

My keenness does not, however, lie in this particular case, which to me, is merely 'much ado about nothing'. However, I must concede to Abdullah that all 'false statements made in Parliament that misdirected the House' ought to be looked into, whether they be major or minor in nature.

Ostensibly, my keenness lies in the following two cases that, I personally think, are serious enough to warrant severe disciplinary action:

In his winding-up speech in Parliament on June 2, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nazri Abdul Aziz had contended that 'the concept of separation of powers between the legislative, judiciary and executive is too idealistic to be implemented in the country'.

Also on June 2, Deputy Health Minister Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad had categorically denied in Parliament the truth of malaysiakin i's report that his ministry had ordered significant cutbacks in its expenditure on healthcare for this year.

In its recent election manifesto, the Barisan Nasional had promised that it will 'respect the separation of powers provided by the constitution with each institution the executive, legislature and judiciary playing their respective roles to ensure a system of checks and balances and the rule of law'.

As Nazri's statements contradicted the Barisan Nasional's manifesto and the constitution of Malaysia, has Nazri not committed the offence of 'making a false statement and of misdirecting the House?'

Recent developments have proven beyond all doubt that the deputy health minister had told a blatant lie in Parliament, obviously calculated to mislead the House.

What Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad actually said in Parliament was: 'This (report) is definitely, and clearly, untrue. If we have money to build hospitals, surely we have money to pay our staff. There is no problem with my (salary) payment too.'

It is now confirmed that the Health Ministry has ordered significant cutbacks in its expenditure after receiving a Treasury directive that there will be no increase in its financial allocation for 2004.

Abdul Latiff had also told Parliament that: 'Whatever reported in malaysiakini is not true. Why does Yang Berhormat (The Honourable) trust the report? If every Malaysian reads malaysiakini and trusts its reports like Yang Berhormat, then it would be troublesome for all of us.'

With these recent events, has Abdul Latiff not committed an offence in 'making a false statement and in misdirecting the House?" Can I now trust malaysiakini more than the honorable deputy minister?

I have always thought that the element of motive is a very crucial element in determining disciplinary action.

In my humble opinion, Karpal Singh had indeed made a 'mistake of law' when he cited the wrong Act to protest against parliamentarians for not raising their right hand during the oath-taking ceremony on May 17.

I believe that the mistake was unintentional and that the protest was made without malice. In any case, not a single member out of the 216 MPs present that day was aware of the mistake and no one had cited the relevant Act to counter and refute Karpal's contention.

Did not Hishamuddin Hussein Onn himself raise his right hand , followed by chuckling among MPs that reminds me of school days and boy scouts outings?

I believe Abdullah should handle these two incidents involving Nazri and Abdul Latiff.

As I have, of late, been having some nagging doubts as to Abdullah's impartiality, this would be a very good acid test for me to determine whether my doubts are indeed unfounded.