(Media Conference Statement at Perak DAP Hqrs in Ipoh on Saturday, 24th May 2008)

The 54th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference on “Expanding the role of Parliament in Global Society” will be held in Kuala Lumpur from August 1 to 10, 2008 and it should be a matter of pride to Malaysian Members of Parliament that the country has been given the honour to play host to the annual conference for the Commonwealth’s 172 Parliaments and legislatures.

Malaysia spent about RM7 million to host a much smaller parliamentary conference last year – the 28th Asean Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) in Kuala Lumpur last August involving nine ASEAN nations.

The cost for hosting the 54th Conference of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association will be many times more than organising the AIPA Assemby and I will ask in Parliament on Monday how much the Malaysian taxpayers will have to bear for Malaysia hosting the August Conference – whether RM20 – RM30 million or even more.

Apart from the cost of the CPA Conference in August, another equally important question is its purpose.

This is because it would be shameful for Malaysia to host the 54th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference on “Expanding the role of Parliament in global society” on August 1 – 10 when the role of Malaysian MPs are being diminished and cannot even move an amendment to the Motion of Thanks for Royal Address, as happened on Thursday when my amendment motion to establish a Royal Commission of Inquiry to resolve the 30-year problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah was disallowed by the Deputy Speaker, Datuk Ronald Kiandee on the ground of being “irrelevant” to the motion proper.

Can Ronald Kiandee cite another Commonwealth Parliament which disallows amendments to the equivalent of Motion of Thanks for the Royal Address on the ground that it is “irrelevant”? Read the rest of this entry »