Despite International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz's 45-minute explanation on the Approved Permits (AP) issue, some parliamentarians remain puzzled over the matter.

Those met later at the Parliament lobby, said the confusion has not been cleared and want the minister to be present in the House again to clarify the matter.

Salahuddin Ayub (PAS-Kubang Kerian) said among the confusion and questions that had yet to be clarified was why a major portion of the permits were given to certain groups or companies.

"This certainly deviates from the government policy itself. If it is true, it will not help the government to achieve the 30 percent equity holding by the bumiputeras," he was quoted as saying by Bernama .

Salahuddin said MPs would wait till the winding-up of the debate on the 2006 Budget by the ministry to raise the AP issue again, and Rafidah would then have more time to answer their questions.

Meanwhile, Mohd Said Yusof (BN-Jasin) said he was not satisfied with Rafidah's reply including the clarification on his supplementary question on the AP issue.

He said he would pursue the matter in greater detail during the debate session on the bill and wanted her to be present to wind up the debate including at the committee stage.

"This is because we know that the cars brought in are of the types that can pose competition to Proton and Perodua, that is those below 1,600 cc capacity.

"If we want to sell the national cars abroad, people will be asking on the volume of the cars in the country, if it is more than 50 percent then the people will have confidence but if (sales) in the country drop to 40 percent, then it will give a poor image," he added.

Clarification crucial

Raja Ahmad Zainudin Raja Omar (BN-Larut) said Rafidah still had to clarify on the issuance of the APs as a whole to the general public.

He said the clarification was crucial because the issuance of the permits in large numbers had affected Proton sales in the local market.

"If possible, we don't want to be misled...(we) want to know in more detail. We will debate (on the matter) in the budget later," he said.

Ahmad Shabery Cheek (BN-Kemaman) told malaysiakini that the explanation was 'far from satisfying'.

"It was the same reply given to the cabinet and if the cabinet was not satisfied to the stage that some of her ministerial responsibilities were taken away and put under the Prime Minister's Department, do you think we will be satisfied with the same explanation?" he asked.

"We heard the same explanation that there was no abuse but in the case of tuned-up cars, why were the APs given to Wald (importer) revoked recently?" he added.

SK Devamany (BN-Cameron Highlands) said more information was needed as the answers given by Rafidah were incomplete and only addressed certain aspects of the issue.

"It's not satisfactory, there are so many issues, why does she not just give out everything and make them all public. Probably the ministry has done the right thing but people don't know, the layman wants to know the issues in layman terms," he added.

It ain't over

Meanwhile, Opposition leader Lim Kit Siang, who locked horns with Rafidah in the House earlier, said he was not happy with the answers.

"It's not the end of the issue. This is because the issues are not resolved yet," he told reporters at the Parliament lobby.

He reiterated that the ministry should release the full list of all APs granted since 1987.

Echoing a similar view was another opposition MP and Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

"She did not reveal the full list. That was a mistake," she added.

Nazri satisfied

However, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Aziz said the explanation by Rafidah was satisfactory and almost similar to the one she gave to the Cabinet earlier.

He said Rafidah had spent some time to answer questions posed by the MPs but it was evident that the time allotted was inadequate.

"Usually for a minister, we give a chance for three supplementary questions, but this time she had replied five questions. And I observe there are still six members of Parliament who wished to pose questions but did not have the chance," he added.