This morning, when Tsu Koon was giving his long answer to the question on KPIs for Ministers and ministries, the Ministerial front-benches were totally empty except for three Ministers who could not get elected and had to enter Parliament through the backdoor.
Is the Najib Cabinet serious about a KPI culture of high-performance?
If so, then no Minister should be allowed to abscond or go overseas from his or her responsibility of accountability to MPs when Parliament is meeting, except for important international functions which could pass muster with Parliament!
When Parliament reconvened last Monday on June 15, the Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat deliberately avoided parliamentary responsibility for the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal by flying off to France to attend the Paris Air Show. Why is Ong’s attending the Paris Air Show more important than his appearance in Parliament to give a full, proper and satisfactory accounting for the PKFZ “mother of all scandals”?
The Paris Air Show at the Le Bourget Exhibition Centre from June 15-21, 2009 celebrated its hundred anniversary, and is held biennially in odd-numbered years. Can Parliament know what were the previous Paris Air Shows which were attended by a Malaysian Transport Minister? Or is Ong the first Malaysian Transport Minister to attend the Paris Air Show.
Can Ong give a report on what benefits had been achieved from his visit to the Paris Air Show and why he could not have sent the Deputy Transport Minister to set an example of giving top priority to parliamentary accountability duties?
Don’t tell me that attending international air shows is the top priority for the Malaysian Transport Minister!
I have here a list from Wikipedia of 33 international air shows, like the Paris Air Show, the Australian International Air Show, Berlin Air Show, Canadian International Air Show, Danish Air Show, Dubai Air Show, Farnborough Air Show, Iran Air Show, New York Air Show, the Moscow International Aviation and Space Salon.
Have the Transport Minister to attend all these Air Shows? Poor Transport Minister or poor 27 million Malaysians?
Speech by DAP Parliamentary Leader and MP for Ipoh Timor Lim Kit Siang on Tuesday, 23rd June 2009 in Parliament on the Finance Minister’s motion to reallot 2009 Budget among the various Ministries following the 10th April 2009 Cabinet reshuffle.