PARLIAMENT | A brief commotion erupted in the Dewan Rakyat this morning after Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng (PH-Bagan) riled up a group of Kelantan MPs.

The group had demanded a retraction of his claim that the Kelantan state government had allegedly failed to pay salaries of its civil servants.

Takiyuddin Hassan (PAS-Kota Baru) demanded that Lim explain his claim and this triggered more Kelantan MPs to also voice their support.

“Don’t just make accusations. Can you state when the Kelantan government did not pay salaries?

“Do not make accusations. This is misleading the House,” Takiyuddin insisted.

Lim had made the statement in his earlier response to Takiyuddin on the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project issue, saying that he was not confident the Kelantan state-government could come up with its own funds for the suspended project “because it could not even pay salaries”.

Takiyuddin had asked Lim to state the federal government’s view on whether the East Coast states affected by the project’s suspension could come up with their own funds for the federal project.

Read more: Guan Eng ropes in Najib to defend 'Kelantan salaries' remark

Responding to the calls, Lim insisted his statement was true as the federal government had assisted the Kelantan state-government with funds to pay the salaries of civil servants. 

“And we are still willing to offer assistance,” said Lim, to which Takiyuddin retorted that it was not a sign of failure by the Kelantan state government. 

Dewan Rakyat Speaker Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof later ruled that there was no need for Lim to retract his remark and this triggered further outcry from Takiyuddin and other Opposition MPs, including Noh Omar (BN-Tanjung Karang).

Noh claimed Ariff had acted unfairly as he was earlier “forced” to retract his pantun, even before he had asked his main question to Lim, on the progress of Malaysia-China government-to-government discussions on the ECRL project status.

Noh ended his pantun with the line, “menteri jawab jangan tipu” (minister, answer – don't lie)  and Ariff ordered him to retract it, on grounds that it was made in bad faith.