theSun | FRIDAY JUNE 26 2009
news without borders
Eye-popping disclosure about Todt
IT WAS an exciting week at the
Dewan Rakyat even though the
question-and-answer sessions,
which usually were the livelier
part of sittings, were quite boring.
Precious time could certainly have
been saved had some MPs just gone
to the internet with their questions
instead of asking them in the De-
wan.
Still it was a supplementary
question during the Q & A session
that started the eye-popping disclo-
sure about former Ferrari Formula
One team boss Datuk Seri Jean
Todt getting RM1 million to serve
as Malaysia’s voluntary tourism
ambassador.
Azmin Ali (PKR-Gombak)
had asked Deputy Tourism Minister
Datuk Seri Sulaiman Abdul Rahman
Taib in his supplementary question
about Todt’s appointment and his
fees as tourism ambassador.
Sulaiman did not answer the
question on the excuse that it was
irrelevant to the original question
by Dr Marcus Mojigoh (BN-
Putatan) who asked about the
production of documentary films
about Malaysia to attract tourists.
Azmin said it was not irrelevant
because Datuk Michelle Yeoh,
At the Dewan Rakyat
by Zainon Ahmad
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
Todt’s fiancée, was a film director
and the appointment needed to be
clarified as he had proof that the
couple were also offered land.
He later talked to the media in
the lobby of parliament about the
deal which he said was lucrative.
When Tourism Minister Datuk
Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen walked into the
lobby, the reporters surrounded her
for clarification.
While the disclosure by the
minister shed more light on the ap-
pointment, including the fees and
rewards, it also begged the ques-
tion what the tourism ministry’s
representatives abroad are doing
that required a special ambassador
to be appointed.
It also demonstrated that the
Dewan Rakyat, where the people’s
elected representative sit, is more
demanding now. Above all, it wants
more accountability from the gov-
ernment and its officials.
During the vetting of the various
bills, for instance, more questions
were asked. In fact, a lively debate
ensued during the two days of vet-
ting, clause by clause, of the con-
troversial Deoxyribonucleic Acid
(DNA) Identification Bill 2008.
It is rare indeed for a bill to be so
closely scrutinized where voting on
the acceptability of each clause was
carried out. Many changes were
made to each clause and one whole
clause about the conclusiveness of
the DNA as evidence in court was
dropped completely. The bill was
passed on Tuesday.
Veteran oppositionist Lim Kit
Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur) finally
got his wish to say much more
about the trouble-ridden Port Klang
Free Zone (PKFZ) project.
He held the floor for three hours
beginning Tuesday and harangued
the BN representatives prob-
ably to his heart’s content till noon
Wednesday.
One of the backbenchers, un-
able to bear the mocking grin
constantly on the oppositionist face,
complained to the speaker that he
should be addressing the chair
instead of looking at them.
Kit Siang railed against the vari-
ous decisions made by the authori-
ties from the time the project was
mooted, the land it had to buy, till
the time when it was discovered
that it had failed to achieve the
objectives for which it was set up.
He spared no one and made
several allegations against the
government Backbenchers Club
chairman Datuk Seri Tiong King
Sing (Bintulu-BN) who is a major
shareholder of Kuala Dimensi Sdn
Bhd which is the turnkey contrac-
tor for the project.
Tiong protested and asked Kit
Siang to make the allegations out-
side the Dewan instead of hiding
behind parliamentary immunity.
When others like Siringan Gubat
(BN-Ranau) and Datuk Bung
Moktar Raden (BN-Kinabatan-
gan) tried to intervene, they were
waved away.
It seemed the DAP vetaran,
speaking during the debate to
redistribute allocations for the de-
funct Ministry of Cooperative and
Entrepreneur Development, was
unstoppable.
When Datuk Tajuddin Abdul
Rahman (BN-Pasir Salak) was
given the floor, he lambasted the
veteran MP and attempted to con-
trovert much of what he said.
But unlike Kit Siang, whose
9
words and diatribes came out in
torrents, Tajuddin spoke with a lot
of pauses and raucus laughter in
between, calculated to let the barbs
and insults sink in.
Many were apparently dis-
pleased with Tajuddin’s style of
delivery and attempted to say so
but it was only M. Manogaran
(DAP-Teluk Intan) who got the
chance to express all of their feel-
ings when he said: “Pasir Salak
probably had forgotten to take his
medicine today.”
Tajuddin also dwelt at length on
the Perak crisis and belittled the aid
that the one-year PAS-led govern-
ment gave to the Malays, adding
that what was given to the Chinese
in terms of the value of land they
received was much more.
Former Perak menteri besar
and new MP Datuk Seri Nizar
Jamaluddin (PAS-Bukit Gan-
tang) stood up several times to
protest but all he managed to say
was that Tajuddin was wrong.
Others came to Nizar’s aid but it
was Azmin and Saifuddin Nasu-
tion (PKR-Machang) who put up
a strong defence of what Nizar did
and referred to him as the “rightful
menteri besar of Perak.”