International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz must explain the Approved Permits (AP) issue in person, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz.

"The Cabinet has decided that she has to come and give an explanation," said Mohd Nazri in a press conference at the Parliament lobby today.

He said that Rafidah will have to answer questions particularly those relating to APs before the Parliament session ends - on Dec 8 - through ways that are allowed by the Dewan Rakyat. He said that she could table a motion to address the AP matters.

"It's a directive from the Cabinet. No question of she can or can't come (to Parliament)," he said.

Mohd Nazri, who is also MP for Padang Rengas, said that there is a system in the Dewan Rakyat that allows questions from parliamentarians to be combined and answered by the minister in one day.

"If it is such an important issue, which requires the minister who has all the facts with him or her to answer the questions, the minister can choose any day he or she is available to answer the questions," he explained.

He added that Rafidah will be notified by the Chief Secertary to the Government on the Cabinet's decision.

According to Mohd Nazri, Rafidah is away on official business and scheduled to be back in Malaysia by Oct 1.

Ministry fumbled

On the published list of AP holders, Mohd Nazri said the list was not requested by Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timor), instead it was given as additional information to the written reply to Lim's question.

"During our discussion, the chief secretary mentioned that the list was never asked by Lim Kit Siang. But according to the explanation from Miti, the list was attached to the reply as additional information," he said, adding that it was due to the negligence of Miti officer that the list was given.

"Damage has been done. We cannot retract what has been published," he said, adding that he was not aware of the penalty that the negligent officer would receive.

He said that the MPs brought up the AP issue again even after it was discussed because of the disclosure of the name of AP holders, which revealed 337 MP received APs from year 2000 to Sept 12 this year.

Everyone entitled one AP

Mohd Nazri said based on the list, ordinary people did not know that every Malaysian citizen is entitled to one AP in a lifetime.

He said that the list only provided the names of recipients and did not include how many APs each individual received. He said that he did not want to give the wrong impression to the public. - that MPs would gain from APs which could be sold at least at RM40,000 per AP.

"The impression that the public has is that MPs talk about this issue and yet you received APs and gained about RM40,000 or RM50,000 and this implies double standards. This really upsets the MPs," he said.

"It's really embarrassing," he added.

On Sept 22, malaysiakini reported that Nazri has informed Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak about the unhappiness of MPs over the release of the AP holders.

Mohd Nazri said the MPs were also annoyed with Rafidah's continued absence when there were AP-related questions being raised in the Dewan Rakyat.