The live telecast of a day-long Parliament session is estimated to cost the government a whopping RM3 million per month, or RM100,000 per day, Information Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek said.

The estimated monthly bill, meant to cover the live telecast production cost, was revealed by the minister in a written parliamentary reply to Liew Chin Tong (DAP-Bukit Bendera) last Wednesday. A copy of the reply was distributed to the media today.

Apart from the RM3 million tab, the government would also need to spend RM9 million to pay for the line services from telecommunication provider Telekom, added the minister.

ahmad shabery cheek Ahmad Shabery however did not reveal the cost of the current live telecast which runs for the first 30 minutes of the parliamentary session which is being aired over state-owned RTM.

The RM12 million bill came on top of the ministry's statement earlier that RTM has spent RM1 million in placing three cameras in the parliamentary chambers for the live telecast.

Last Friday, the cabinet decided to continue with the 30-minute telecast of the question-and-answer period at 10 each morning despite that noisy parliamentary session at its first live telecast last week.

At the session, MPs from both sides of the divide traded insults and engaged in shouting matches. Calls were later made by several quarters to pull the plug on the live telecast.

However, the cabinet said the live telecast would be reviewed if similar fracas were to occur again.

Today is the second time the parliamentary session was telecast live after last Wednesday - last Thursday was a public holiday while Parliament does not sit on Friday.

Minister: I am happy with today's session

Ahmad Shabery, when met by reporters at the Parliament lobby today, said his ministry would consider extending the live telecast to a much longer period after a rather smooth session this morning.

They were only minor arguments between opposition MPs and House speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia at the beginning of today’s session.

"I am happy with what took place this morning as MPs showed their respect to the Parliament and I hope this trend will continue," he told reporters.

To a question, he said the ministry would "surely" consider the possibility of extending the live telecast longer than the current 30 minutes, but it will monitor MPs’ performance before making such a decision.

scah uuca talk 141205 liew chin tong "This is still under the trial-run period," said Shabery, who was non-committal on when the decision would be made.

DAP's Bukit Bendera MP Liew ( right ) in a statement today said the decision to broadcast live should be left to the MPs through the formation of a parliamentary select committee for the final decision.

"Live telecasts of parliamentary proceedings are not 'toys' for MPs to play with. It is the right of Malaysians to see publicly-funded MPs in action," said Liew, who is the latest to join other opposition politicians in making the call.

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