The Minister in the Prime Minister's Department was supposed to be winding-up on points raised during the Budget 2006 debate in the Dewan Rakyat this morning, but this turned out to be a session where a minister and opposition leader 'wound up' one another instead.

As Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz read a 58-page reply on points raised during the Budget 2006 debate, Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur) sought permission numerous times to seek clarifications.

In the end, Nazri was unable to go no further than about 20 pages, as he stopped to reply to Lim's questions on a range of issues from action against corruption to the saga of executive incursion into the management of Parliament.

Among the first issues raised was whether disgraced Umno vice-president Mohd Isa Samad would be referred to the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA), now that the party's supreme council has upheld a finding of guilt against him.

Accused of money politics during the party elections in September last year, Isa failed on appeal to overturn the finding, suspension and a decision to relieve him of party posts. The council only halved the six-year suspension and, on Saturday, he resigned as federal territories minister.

Replying, Nazri said it was up to the ACA to decide whether or not to investigate Isa.

"I don't have the facts so I can't comment on whether the ACA should take action. If this is related to money, it is up to ACA to decide whether it should act or not," he said.

Nazri then argued that disciplinary action against Isa was due to a breach of the party's election ethics, but that this may not necessarily amount to violation of the Anti-Corruption Act.

Who is the traitor?

At this juncture, Mohamed Aziz (BN-Sri Gading) insisted that "traitors" - whom he did not name - should stop tarnishing the country's image and not alarm foreign investors by playing up issues of corruption without solid evidence.

An irked Lim, who had been grilling Nazri on corruption-related issues, asked if Mohamed was referring to him, but the Sri Gading MP denied this.

"Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad recently said corruption is a way of life (among Malaysians), so are you saying he is a traitor?" asked an irate Lim.

A shouting match between the two almost got out of control when Lim continued to challenge Mohamed to name the 'traitor', while Nazri continued reading his answers.

Deputy Speaker Lim Si Cheng had to repeatedly raise his voice to tell all parties to sit down as the shouting match continued but with four persons speaking at the same time, the noise level only grew.

When calm was restored, Nazri went on with his reply in which he noted that the judiciary and media enjoy freedom in Malaysia. He cited the release of jailed former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim last year as an example of judicial independence.

Asked Kit Siang: "Does the government concede that the judiciary system was not independent when Anwar was jailed?"

Nazri reminded him that, although the Federal Court had acquitted Anwar of the sodomy charge, it had made a specific finding that Anwar had been involved in homosexual activities.

"Although we know that (homosexual activities) did take place, we didn't interfere (with the court's decision) ... we give the judiciary a free hand," said the minister, who oversees parliamentary affairs.

Date of decision?

The arguments between the two then moved on to the dispute over the attempt to create a Parliament Department and the subsequent proposal by MPs to revive the Parliamentary Services Act 1963 (PSA), repealed in 1992.

Lim asked for a deferment of any change to Parliament's administrative structure, since de facto law minister Radzi Sheikh Ahmad had said over the weekend that the government has agreed to revive the PSA.

Said Nazri: "We must follow the rules. We can't implement an Act just because this was proposed during the Question-and-Answer session (in the Dewan Rakyat last week). Just (showing support by) standing up is (an) informal (gesture). Moreover, it was not even in response to an original question but to a supplementary question. This is not a secret society."

He was referring to Backbenchers Club head Shahrir Abdul Samad, whose call for a show of support had seen almost all of some 50 parliamentarians standing up to indicate their interest in reinstating the PSA.

Lim further questioned Nazri's previous announcement that the government had approved the setting up of the new department on Sept 15, noting this "was not even a Wednesday...(so) how could there have been a Cabinet meeting?"

Nazri claimed he had only said the decision "took effect on Sept 15", not that the cabinet had made the decision that day.

Under pressure from those who had opposed the move, the minister had later watered down the original proposal to one of a 'Head of Administration' to supervise management and financial matters of Parliament with effect from Oct 15.