Temperatures skyrocketed in the Dewan Rakyat today when an opposition MP accused a minister of building a lavish mansion for his 'mistress' while the community the minister represents was still plagued by poverty.

During the debate on the 9th Malaysia Plan, M Kula Segaran (DAP-Ipoh Timor) named the minister and claimed that the alleged house was worth a whopping RM5.6 million.

He also claimed that a convention hall was built in the minister's constituency (which the MP also identified) under the name of a company purportedly owned by the 'mistress'.

"I have received the relevant document (a letter) and I know where the house is located," Kula Segaran told the House, paving the way for a volley of protests.

Bad faith

SK Devamany (BN-Cameron Highlands) was the first parliamentarian to come to the defence of the minister concerned. He termed Kula Segaran's remark as an 'accusation made in bad faith'.

Following this, Mohamed Aziz (BN-Sri Gading) said the community's problems should not be attributed to the government.

As Kula Segaran insisted that he was speaking the truth, pandemonium erupted in the House as numerous government backbenchers stood up to criticise him.

"I challenge you to substantiate the claim with proof," continued Devamany, who wanted disciplinary action to be taken against Kula Segaran while Ahmad Zainuddin Omar (BN-Larut) dismissed the allegation as 'slander'.

The vocal Mohamed Aziz then asked Kula Segaran how many mistresses he had.

However, Kula Segaran claimed that the 'letter' detailing the accusation against the minister was widely circulated.

The heated argument, which threatened to boil over, was saved by the lunch break. But the issue was raised again in the afternoon.

Retract it

When the sitting resumed, Housing and Local Government Parliamentary Secretary Dr S Subramaniam invoked the standing order demanding that Speaker Ramli Ngah Talib order Kula Segaran to retract his accusation.

"Under the standing order, no reference shall be made in any debate to the conduct or character of any MP or public servant, other than conduct in the capacity of MP or public servant," said Subramaniam.

"Hence, I urge the speaker to instruct Ipoh Barat (Kula Segaran) to retract his remark and if he does not adhere to the instruction, he should be referred to the Parliamentary Privileges Committee to face disciplinary action," he added. This was seconded by Devamany.

Responding, Kula Segaran said: "I want to explain. I would like to apologise for having used the word mistress ( perempuan simpanan ) earlier in my debate. I should have said 'his woman' ( perempuan dia )."

"This carries the same meaning," protested Devamany immediately.

Say sorry

Kula Segaran continued: "I made a sincere statement, I will apologise if I made a false accusation but all the (party named) central working committee members have received this letter...", he said, while waving the letter.

At this point, another backbencher Dr KS Nijhar (BN-Subang) interjected: "We are debating on government policies, we are not debating whether the accusation is true or false.

"It is not proper and what more, it is against the standing order. I hope Ipoh Barat retracts it and apologises."

When the speaker advised Kula Segaran to retract his remark, he replied: "If there is any improper motive or inappropriate statement, I retract it."

However, the backbenchers were not assuaged and demanded an apology.

Amid the protest, Kula Segaran attempted to move on with his debate and told the House that he had received complaints against a few rich Malaysians (from a certain community) who gained their wealth through unjust means.

Once again he referred to the letter at hand. "I just read one paragraph from this letter - a RM5 million house was completed in a year under a company (also identified), the biggest convention hall worth RM6 million and a church worth RM3.8 million built in (the identified constituency)."

This ignited another round of protest from the backbenchers but Kula Segaran proceeded with other topics, bringing the drama to an end.

Malaysiakini attempted to contact the minister concerned for his comments on the matter but an aide who did not wish to be identified said the minister was busy at a meeting.