Wan Junaidi rebukes PH MPs for poor attendance in Parliament
KUCHING: Santubong MP Datuk Sri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar has rebuked Pakatan Harapan (PH) MPs for using excuses such as ‘Parliament is too cold’ and fatigue for their poor attendance in the Dewan Rakyat.
Wan Junaidi, who has been an MP for 30 years and was Deputy Speaker of Dewan Rakyat from 2008 to 2013, said such statements showed that PH as a federal government was ridiculing the sanctity of Parliament as the national legislature of the country.
“For them to say that Parliament is very cold, that is nonsense. At my age, I have never complained because it is not cold inside Parliament. That is just their excuse,” said Wan Junaidi, who turned 73 this year.
“On their excuse of fatigue, let me remind them that we used to have meetings in Parliament until 3am and we have never complained that we felt tired.
“How can they say they feel tired after attending a meeting from 10am until 8pm or 9pm?” asked Wan Junaidi who claimed to have specialty in parliament administration and laws.
Wan Junaidi, who was a deputy minister and full minister in the previous government, said another instance of PH ‘ridiculing’ Parliament was when some of the ministers could not even provide answers when queried by fellow parliamentarians.
“Some of them said ‘Refer to the Hansard’ and even one minister said ‘I will answer you in a written reply’. This showed the minister did not even know what his duties are after one year and six months in government, and did not even know what is going on in his ministry,” he said.
He claimed that parliamentarians from PH also have a problem with management as they did not seem to have a strong minister in charge or a whip to ensure there is attendance, to ensure there is quorum and to ensure government Bill or motion is not defeated.
He also criticised the manner in which Speaker Tan Sri Mohamad Arif Md Yusof used the ‘long count’ or delayed counting during voting of Bills to ensure more time for PH to get enough MPs in Parliament.
“Such counting process is acceptable because such delayed counting has never been implemented. The Speaker should be neutral,” he said.
