DAP member of Parliament Fong Po Kuan (Batu Gajah) today urged the government to defer the tabling of the Academy Law Bill 2002 in this Parliament session which started today.

She said the bill which will affect the independence of the legal profession was too important to be "hurriedly passed".

"I call on the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Dr Rais Yatim to defer the second reading of the Academy Law Bill 2002 which has been fixed for second reading in the House according to today's Order Paper of the Dewan Rakyat," Fong ( left ) said.

She also said the government should seriously consider the views of the Bar Council which has objected to the bill in a memorandum sent to Rais last Friday.

Fong had earlier told reporters that she would debate this issue during the supplementary bill debate session.

"I will try to bring up this issue although I am not able to bring up any oral question for this whole week," she said.

Youngest parliamentarian

Fong, who is the country's youngest parliamentarian and a lawyer by profession, was suspended by the Parliament on Dec 11 last year for six months without pay for "bringing down the dignity of the House".

She was said to have insulted the House speaker Mohamed Zahir Ismail by accusing him of "abusing his powers" when he denied her request to debate the scandalous issue of the tampered Certificate in Legal Practice examination results.

On her suspension, Fong who has the dubious honour of being the first parliamentarian to be suspended for six months without pay, said she was "glad to be back".

"I would like to express my gratitude to my friends, party leaders, the public and media for supporting me in this six-month period," she added.

She said her suspension has also shown the need to reform Parliament or it would no longer be relevant as the place to raise issues and problems anymore.

Cancer treatment

Another DAP leader who was the centre of media attention in Parliament today was Kerk Kim Hock (DAP-Kota Melaka), who was accompanied by his wife.

Kerk, who is being treated for rectal cancer, is scheduled for another operation in mid-July.

"I underwent an operation to remove the tumour growth on April 10, but I started writing press statements and did some of my political jobs a month later. This is the reason I can recover very fast because I have motivation in my everyday life," he said.

He also said he will resume his political responsibility as the party's secretary-general in August.

"I do have commitments to the party. However, my illness didn't affect much the party's operation because we are not a one-man show," he said.