Senator Syed Husin Ali sent in a question two weeks ago, seeking clarification of an allegation about excessive logging in Sarawak. It was only yesterday that he found out that the question had been rejected.

NONE “I was only informed that it concerns state matters and hence it was rejected,” he told a press conference in the Parliament lobby today.

“There is an allegation and we have a responsibility to (prove) its veracity. It (the question) should not have been rejected outright.”

Clare Rewcastle Brown, founder of the Sarawak Report website, had blamed the deforestation on long-time chief minister Abdul Taib Mahmud, who had led BN to its worst performance in the state election concluded on Saturday.

Her brother-in-law and former British premier Gordon Brown had told the Independent newspaper that Rewcastle had “stumbled upon what is probably the biggest environmental crime of our times”.

Asked if the question had been rejected because of the Sarawak election, Syed Husin said he had submitted the question two weeks ago, when the election date was known.

“...what happened in Sarawak should have been allowed to be questioned and answered by the minister in charge, as this is serious,” he said.

NONE “This issue is of national and international importance following allegations made by Rewcastle (right) and Brown himself that the forest will be gone in a few years. This I feel is a vital question which need to be answered.”

Syed Husin also pointed out that Malaysia has yet to lift a total of 62 years of ‘emergency’ since the first declaration was made 1948 to curb the communist insurgency.

This was followed by declarations in September 1964 (confrontation with Indonesia); 1966 (Sarawak political crisis); 1969 (racial riots); and 1977 (transfer of power from the Kelatan government to the federal government), he said.

“How long do we need to hold on to this disgraceful record? Like these declarations, the ISA (Internal Security Act) should be abolished. It is insufficient for the Act to be amended,” he said.

‘Act against cyber-attacks’

DAP senator S Ramakrishnan has condemned the Information, Communication and Culture Ministry’s inaction over the cyber-attacks on news portal Malaysiakini and Sarawak Report last week.

“In answering my question NONE today, Deputy Minister Joseph Salang (right) said the ministry had not received any reports over such attacks, and warned senators against making this a political issue,” he said.

“Such answers (are regrettable because) the ministry should have acted against those who attacked the portals in view of the Sarawak election. They should have stopped people from hacking [sic] any website in Malaysia (irrespective of its ownership).”

Ramakrishnan said the lax attitude and inaction could turn away foreign investors.