DAP takes Speaker to task on post of Opposition Leader

comments     Susan Loone     Published     Updated

DAP national chairperson Lim Kit Siang has taken parliament speaker Mohamed Zahir Ismail to task for several issues related to the appointment of a new Opposition Leader.

Lim said if an Opposition Leader could not be formally appointed and announced by Thursday, before the House adjourns for the next sitting in September, the matter would reflect adversely on the speaker, Parliament and the opposition.

He added that "there is no reason why the new Opposition Leader could not be formally appointed and announced in Parliament latest by Thursday".

The need for a new opposition leader had arisen following the death of Fadzil Noor (PAS-Pendang) on Sunday.

Yesterday Zahir said there was no time frame to appoint an opposition leader adding that the appointment may be announced at the Dewan's next budget meeting in September.

Zahir told reporters that the Opposition Leader may not necessarily be a member of the party with the biggest majority.

He pointed out that in 1995, Lim was the Opposition Leader, although PAS had the most members in the House.

Zahir claimed that PAS had "offered" the post to Lim as "they were courting each other then".

'Faulty memory'

Lim criticised Zahir as "not only suffering from faulty memory, he is showing a bias against DAP which is most improper and unwarranted for a speaker of parliament, who should rise above political party controversies".

"To put the record straight, and to refresh Zahir's memory, DAP had the most number of opposition MPs in the 1995 general election, although we did not have a clear majority of the total number of opposition MPs," Lim said, adding that nine DAP, eight PBS, seven PAS and six Semangat 46 MPs were elected in the 1995 general election.

Lim refuted Zahir's statement that in 1995, PAS had "offered" the post of Opposition Leader to the DAP.

"Zahir's statement that "they were courting each other then" was baseless and a pure figment of his imagination," Lim said.

"In actual fact, in 1995, PAS made a bid for the post of Opposition Leader although it had fewer MPs than the DAP," Lim said.

Party with most MPs

According to media reports, Fadzil, who was PAS president, nominated Abdul Hadi Awang (PAS-Marang), who is now Terengganu Menteri Besar, as the Opposition Leader, on grounds that the Angkatan Perpaduan Ummah (APU) comprising PAS and Semangat 46 had a total of 13 seats out of the total of 30 Opposition MPs.

During the event, PBS supported the party with the largest number of seats for the Opposition Leader while Semangat 46 took a neutral position.

Lim said Zahir's "faulty memory and his irrational bias against the DAP" raise the question whether he should continue or resign as speaker.

"Such a bias may have stemmed from adverse national and international reactions to his unparliamentary mishandling of the Fong Po Kuan issue," he added.

Last December, Fong (DAP-Batu Gajah) was suspended for six months without pay for criticising Zahir for not allowing her to speak against the injustices of the Certificate in Legal Practice examination fiasco.



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