An office in the Parliament building caught fire this morning and the water used to extinguish the flames disrupted a meeting of opposition MPs one floor below.

According to the chief administrator of the building, Awang Alek Jeman, the fire took place on the 15th  floor of the tower block at a time when the officers and staff were not around.

The fire was spotted when staff on the 14th floor reported water flowing into their offices.

“When checks were made, the 15th floor was flooded with water from the automatic sprayers of the building’s fire suppression system, and there were signs of a fire in the private secretary’s room in the Office of the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Shahidan Kassim,” Awang is reported as saying on the BN Backbenchers Club website.

The fire department has been contacted and is investigating the cause of the fire.

Meanwhile, executive director of the think tank Political Studies for Change (KPRU) Ooi Heng ( photo ) said the water used to put out the flames flowed into the parliamentary opposition leader’s office one floor below.

Ooi said the water entered the meeting room, although other parts of the office were not affected. This occurred around 10am.

The meeting room was where the opposition MPs were then discussing the issue of refugees and human trafficking when the water started dripping down.

Meeting adjourned to PAS office

The MPs were forced to relocate their meeting to the PAS office on the opposite side of the 14th floor.

Upon entering the PAS office, Ooi told Malaysiakini , one of the PAS members quipped, “DAP would still dare step into our office?”

However, he stressed that this was meant as a joke.

According to Ooi among those attending the meeting were Opposition Leader Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Sungai Siput MP Dr Michael Jeyakumar, Sungai Petani MP Johari Abdul, Tumpat MP Kamarudin Jaffar, Kota Raja MP Siti Mariah Mahmud, Klang MP Charles Santiago and Batu Kawan MP Kasthuri Patto.

He said he was at PAS’ office at the time of the incident, when he was told of the water flowing into the meeting room and went to have a look.

The damage caused by the water was not severe, he said, partly because only the meeting room was affected and there were few electrical equipment there.

“(The staff) moved everything aside, wiped the place and brought in a blower to dry the wet newspapers and reports. It was not serious.

“The electrical goods were not there. No problems,” Ooi added.