Senate president Abu Zahar Ujang today rejected the emergency motion tabled by senator S Ramakrishnan (DAP) to debate the fatal police shooting of 14-year-old Aminulrasyid Amzah.

NONE In announcing his decision, Abu Zahar said there was no need to debate the matter because it was still being probed by the police.

“The government is also viewing the case seriously. Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had visited the victim’s family,” he said.

Abu Zahar added that currently, the police have formed a special team to probe the matter which is being overseen by a special panel established by the Home Ministry.

NONE Speaking to reporters later, Ramakrishnan ( left ) described Abu Zahar’s decision as a “missed opportunity” for the Upper House.

He said it was important to intervene because many police shooting cases have been highlighted before, but no action was taken because investigations were conducted by the police themselves.

Therefore, he said that the public should have a say in how the police conducts investigations.

"Police investigation is subject to public scrutiny,” he said.

Why voters auto-registration system was rejected

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Liew Vui Keong, explained the reason behind government's rejection of voters auto-registration system.

In his written answer to PKR Senator Zamri Yusof, he said that due to the high mobility of citizens in the country, the address registered on their MyKad differed from their residential address.

Should they be registered automatically as voters according to their address in their MyKad, they will not be able to find their names in the constituency they reside and will have to travel back to the MyKad address to cast their vote.

This will cause confusion among voters and affect the turnout rate, said Liew.

However this statement was soon rebutted by Zamri in a press conference later.

NONE Zamri ( left ) argued that the current system also requires citizens to register as voters according to their address in their MyKad. They still need to change their address with Election Commission if the address in MyKad is different with their residing address.

"We should automatically register all citizens into the electoral roll. Those who have a different address will need to change it."

He said the government's rejection of the voters auto-registration system due to a fear of low turnout was like a school authority who in order to increase the school's overall performance, told students with poor academic performances not to sit for public examinations.

Umno senator miffed over oil blocks

Meanwhile, one Umno senator joined the chorus of outcry over the handover of offshore oil blocks to Brunei by former premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s administration.

Senator from Melaka Akbar Ali told the Upper House that statements given by Petronas, the Prime Minister’s Department, Abdullah’s office and the Foreign Affairs Ministry appeared contradictory.

Among others, the foreign ministry said border disputes between Malaysia and Brunei had been resolved with the deal but subsequently Najib revealed that the bilateral negotiation over land boundaries were still ongoing.

"These statements are contradicting each other," said Akbar during the debate of 2010 Supplementary Supply Bill.

PKR Senator Syed Husin Ali shared the same sentiments, adding that the decision to handover the two areas - dubbed Block L and M - was unconstitutional because it was not approved by Sarawak state government and Malay Rulers Council.

Deputy Finance Minister Awang Adek Hussein who was presenting the Bill refused to respond on the calls for clarifications.

He said the issue was highly technical and an official respond would require proper research.

"This is an issue involving years of negotiation between two countries. I don't want to create more confusion."

He said the matter would be dealt with by Petronas and the Prime Minister’s Department.