The diesel shortage may be causing anxiety nationwide, but the Dewan Rakyat stuck to procedure to debate the Members of Parliament (Remuneration) (Amendment) Bill 2005, at its second reading today.

Chong Chieng Jen (DAP-Bandar Kuching) was unhappy that his emergency motion had been put aside and made his feelings clear at a press conference at the Parliament lobby.

"On all grounds the Speaker (Ramli Ngah Talib) should have allowed the motion on diesel (shortage) to be tabled. Instead, (the House) is now arguing about (the proposed increase in) MPs' allowance ," he said.

Chong said he had filed notice on April 19 of an emergency motion to discuss the diesel shortage, particularly in Sarawak , under Standing Order 18, as the matter involves public interest and is an urgent matter.

However, Lim Hock Seng (DAP-Bagan) had also submitted notice of an emergency motion the same day, on the hike in the Penang ferry service fares.

Ramli's written reply, issued yesterday, rejected Chong's motion under Standing Order 18(5), which states that the meeting cannot be adjourned twice the same day to discuss an emergency motion.

It also stated that the MP cannot fix the date for a motion to be tabled, as this would indicate that the matter is not one that needs to be urgently debated.

In addition, under Standing Order 18(2), any motion should be submitted at least 24 hours ahead, excluding public holidays, to be read on the day of the meeting.

Appeal submitted

Chong insisted that his notice had been filed 72 hours ahead, including weekends, and said the Speaker should have given him the next available date to table his motion

"His decision is wrong. The Speaker has made wrong use of power, wrong use of law," Chong claimed.

"I have exhausted all avenues under the Standing Order. If he wants to kill the motion, (he should) do it in a more convincing manner...don't do it in an absurd way."

Chong said he would continue to fight for the matter to be discussed and submitted an appeal letter to Ramli today. Copies of his letters were made available to malaysiakini .

"I call for the resignation of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister (Mohd Shafie Apdal)," he added, although he gave the minister 24 hours to come up with a solution.

DAP colleagues Chong Eng (Bukit Mertajam) and Fong Po Kuan (Batu Gajah), who were present at the press conference, agreed with the urgency of discussing the diesel shortage immediately.

They said that they had been receiving numerous calls, text messages and e-mails since last night from bus and lorry drivers in their constituencies, complaining about the difficulty of getting diesel supplies.

"I think Parliament is the place to discuss the people's problems Otherwise Parliament is irrelevant," Chong Eng said.

She was disappointed that "the focus has been on complying with the Standing Order", saying the Speaker should have used his discretion instead of "hiding behind a technicality".

"I regret that BN MPs did not stand united (with us) in dealing with this diesel crisis, to enable Bandar Kuching's (Chong Chieng Jen) motion to be discussed," Fong said.

"The reason given by the Speaker is not acceptable."