KUALA LUMPUR: Deputy Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Mohd Rashid Hasnon (pix) was taken to task by opposition MPs today for, what they claimed, was a “mockery of parliament”.
The issue started when Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff was singled out by the opposition MPs after many attempted to interrupt her speech.
Initially Hannah Yeoh (PH-Segambut) wanted to know about the timeline on the amendments of the People With Disabilities (OKU) Act, gender equality, sexual harassment and social workers services bills.
Yeoh asked if these five bills could be realised by the end of the year and if not which bill the ministry would prioritise.
However, Siti Zailah seemed to be agitated with the question and started to raise her voice and said Yeoh should know better about the legal process in this country given that she was the former deputy minister.
“The ministry is putting in efforts and the bills are in the process,“ she said.
She then proceeded in a hurry, saying that she has many questions to answer within the time frame given.
Yeoh responded that her question was not answered and that she only wanted to know the timeline as the answer given by the deputy minister had already been used earlier before the movement control order.
“Why are you so defensive?” she questioned.
When other Opposition MPs tried to interject at the end of her speech, Siti Zailah ignored them and said: “This is my floor and I am not giving my permission. The rest (of the questions) will get written replies.”
After the deputy minister ended her speech, Yeoh stood up and told Mohd Rashid to look at the state of the proceedings in the parliament.
Mohd Rashid then asked Deputy Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Zahidi Zainul Abidin to begin his speech.
“This debate is meaningless. You are making a mockery of parliament. We cannot ask questions while the written answers are meaningless and not answering the questions.
“If everyone comes to read scripts, then anyone can be a minister and additional questions should not be seen as attacks,“ she said.
