The Parliament House lapsed into a frenzy of protest today when opposition members of parliament (MPs) who were not amused by Transport minister Ling Liong Sik's absence, launched a verbal salvo on the House speaker demanding an explanation.

The ruckus erupted when Health ministry parliamentary-secretary S Sothinathan stood up to deliver a speech in the place of the absent minister.

The dissatisfied MPs disrupted Sothinathan's speech and aimed their verbal artillery on House speaker Mohamed Zahir Mohamed Ismail.

They demanded that the speaker explain why Ling was not present to answer issues raised in the House last week.

DAP member of parliament (MP) for Seputeh Teresa Kok told the house she had raised the question about the Miri 'port scandal' in Sarawak last Thursday and was expecting Ling to comment on this today.

Mohamed Zahir responded the minister was not required to answer all the questions during debate time, adding, "He(Ling) told me that he will not be answering this question."

Donald stopped

As expected, this explanation failed to placate the situation and caused more MPs to stand up in protest.

DAP MP for Kota Melaka Kerk Kim Hock stood up and reiterated the call for an explanation as to why Ling was not around to answer questions.

At this juncture, a minor commotion broke out when transport ministry parliamentary- secretary Donald Lim made an effort to respond but was not permitted by the House speaker.

In support of the call from the DAP faction, PAS MP for Pendang and opposition leader Fadzil Noor stood up and said:"The minister has to explain why he planned on not answering questions raised in this house before the Outline Perspective Plan (OPP 3) was presented by the Prime Minister".

To this, Mohamed Zahir replied there is no provision in Parliament which requires a minister to answer all questions, adding once again that Ling had informed him about it.

Stubborn MP

However, Tan kept insisting for an answer and tried to invoke the standing orders which makes it compulsory for ministers to answer questions raised by MPs. Instead, he was rebuked by the speaker who explained there was no such provision.

When this failed to deter Tan's persistence, Mohamed Zahir said: "The Cheras MP is very stubborn and I may need to take action."

Finally, peace descended when Mohamed Zahir overruled the MPs concerns and requested Sothinathan to proceed with his speech.

When met by reporters later, Kok said she had raised the issue of the Sarawak state government's RM350 million expenditure on the Miri port project.

"Apart from this RM350 million, the state government has to spend another RM500 million on siltation work to clean the muddy waters every year. We want the Transport Minister to comment on this matter," she added.