My three questions (No.79 to No. 81 on the 27th day in the current series) to Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat on the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal today are:
Question No. 1: This is the end of the second week of Parliament, which will adjourn next Thursday on 2nd July following a two-day extension.
Ong, who had absconded to France for the Paris Air Show instead of being Parliament when it met on June 15 to give an accounting of the PKFZ scandal, has now put up a great show of his commitment to the principles of accountability, transparency and integrity by claiming that 300 copies of the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) audit report and appendices on the PKFZ scandal have been sent to Parliament for MPs – but not a single MP whether from Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat has received it.
Ong may be trying to become a David Copperfield in Malaysian Parliament – conjuring up 300 sets of the PwC report and appendices which MPs cannot touch, see or read!
Is Ong so useless as Transport Minister, but good as Minister for Air Shows, that he could not even ensure that MPs and the media are instantly given copies of the PwC Report and Appendices? Since I became a MP in 1969, I have not come across a more lame excuse than the one given by Ong that the PcW report and appendices have not been tabled in Parliament because it is up to the Parliament Secretary, Datuk Roosme binti Hamzah to decide how and when to table them in Parliament. No other Minister had ever used such an excuse because it is just silly and stupid.
If the Transport Minister today writes officially to the Parliament Secretary that the PwC report and appendices be tabled immediately for all MPs, Datuk Roosme would comply and the PwC report would be on the table of all MPs the next morning.
With his long years in Parliament and government, Ong could not be ignorant of this.
Why then he is going along with this charade that he is utterly powerless to decide whether the 300 copies of the PwC report and appendices on the PKFZ scandal is given to all MPs without any further delay, and that it is in the hands of the Parliament Secretary?
What is the use of being a Transport Minister when he is even powerless to ensure that MPs are immediately given copies of the PwC report and appendices?
The reason is simple. Ong wants the present arrangement to continue, which is that the 300 copies of the PwC report and appendices of the PKFZ scandal are not given to MPs until the end of the year, purportedly as part of the Public Accounts Committee report on PKFZ. This is because nobody expects any PAC report on PKFZ until the 35-day budget meeting of Parliament from Oct. 19 to Dec. 15, 2009.
My first question to Ong is whether he is so useless and powerless a Transport Minister that he cannot ensure that the 300 copies of PwC report and appendices on RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal are tabled in Parliament on Monday instead of collecting dust till end of the year?
Question No. 2: I have yesterday submitted a motion to refer Ong to the Committee of Privileges for misleading Parliament in his eight-minute Ministerial statement (really a non-statement) on the PKFZ scandal on Monday, 22nd June 2009.
As Ong also accused me of misleading Parliament, has he submitted a motion to refer me to the Committee of Privileges?
Shall we jointly approach the Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin, to ask that both these motions of privilege be given top priority so that they are debated next Monday and that both motions, his and mine, be debated together?
Question No. 3: Former MCA President and Transport Minister, Datuk Seri (now Tun) Dr. Ling Liong Sik signed the first of four unlawful Letters of Support forcing the Cabinet in July 2007 to decide on a RM4.6 billion bailout of PKFZ which has now ballooned into a RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal. Does Ong know why Ling signed the Letter of Support on May 28, 2002, which was his last act on his last day as Transport Minister? Did he ever ask Ling for the reason?