Parliament is not going to dissolve any time soon to pave the way for a general election, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz.

Nazri said this in a written reply to a question by Batu Gajah (DAP) member of parliament, Fong Po Kuan.

smm meeting with nazri 110907 nazri abdul aziz Fong had asked whether the legislative body will be adjourned in the near future.

And, if that was not the case, why did Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak declare his intentions to recapture Selangor although the general election was just held last year, asked Fong.

“The prime minister had made the statement referring to the elected Barisan Nasional representatives asking them to work harder in accordance with the 'People first, performance now' maxim,” said Nazri ( right ).

The claims of a general election were started by Najib with him telling the nation that he intends to “win back Selangor”. He said this while officiating the Kuala Selangor Umno division meeting on Aug 9.

Sivarasa's allegation 'unfounded '

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Liew Vui Keong denied claims by PKR (Subang) parliamentarian R Sivarasa that he lied about the visit of the Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) to the KLIA Detention Depot to interview some 200 Sri Lankan refugees last week.

“Sivarasa was reported to have said that Suhakam’s Commissioner N Siva Subramaniam told him that he (Siva) received a call from the personal assistant to the Director of the Malaysian Immigration Department that Suhakam’s visit was denied.

“Such (an) allegation is not true. If at all there is such a prohibition, which is denied, such prohibition must state the grounds in writing to the applicant and (is) signed by the director,” said Liew.

Sivarasa said that the commissioner had sought permission to visit the refugees in a letter dated Oct 16 to the Immigration Department chief Abdul Rahman Osman.

suhakam police tortured detainee b prabakar 150109 siva subramaniam The MP also said that Siva ( left ) was informed by Abdul Rahman’s personal assistant three days later that the application was denied.

Liew said according to the records, Suhakam sent in a letter on Oct 16 for a visit on Oct 20 but no one from Suhakam showed up.

“According to the commandant at the KLIA Depot, Sharinurin Sharri, Suhakam officials failed to turn up (at the) appointed time.

“However, Suhakam wrote another letter on Oct 21 saying they wanted to visit the Depot on Oct 23 at 9.30am,” stated Liew.

“It is very important to appreciate the fact that in his letter dated Oct 21, Siva did not at all complain that they had been denied access to the KLIA Depot on Oct 20,” said Liew.

The deputy minister added that the commissioner, after visiting the depot, had expressed complete satisfaction with the treatment given to the Sri Lankans.

“It is therefore very clear that Sivarasa has failed to appreciate the facts sufficiently before making his unfounded claims,” he added.

Please help MAS, gov’t urged

The government should help national airline carrier Malaysia Airlines (MAS) to avoid from it being affected by the financial crisis, a BN parliamentarian urged today.

malaysia airline mas aircraft In his Budget 2010 policy speech debate, Ahmad Hamzah (Jasin) claimed that the government- funded GLC had been losing RM10 million everyday.

“I am not pointing any fingers about this, but we should realise that we are all responsible in helping this airline because it is ours,” he said.

According to him, MAS had been facing financial problems ever since privately-owned rival AirAsia took over the routes that MAS initially had to cover

“So I am proposing to the government that all government-linked companies and government agencies use MAS when travelling.

“We should be more patriotic because MAS belongs to our country,” he said.