KUALA LUMPUR – Speaker Tan Sri Azhar Azizan Harun was forced to adjourn the Dewan Rakyat session for five minutes following a war of words triggered by several opposition MPs during the winding up speech of Unity Minister Datuk Halimah Mohamed Sadique today.
A visibly frustrated Azhar was noticeably irritated as the session involving Halimah’s winding up speech was interrupted several times by M. Kula Segaran (Ipoh Barat-PH), V. Sivakumar (Batu Gajah-PH), and S. Kesavan (Sungai Siput-PH).
Earlier, Azhar also ordered Sivakumar to leave the House for 10 minutes because he had been badgering Halimah over the matter concerning the Malaysian Indian Community Transformation Unit (Mitra) funds.
It all began when Halimah informed the august House that the Indian Community Action Plan (PTMI) meeting would be held on March 22, but she was interrupted by Kula and Sivakumar who both asked whether the government would provide an explanation on Mitra’s expenditure after 2020.
Halimah, however, stressed that the PTMI meeting would only discuss Mitra’s plans for 2022, and she could not elaborate on the matter in 2020 and 2021 as it had been included in the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigation.
“I cannot answer matters related to the MACC investigation. Many ask me what the results of the MACC investigation are, but I really can’t answer.
“Only the law minister can answer,” she said.
The answer, however, did not satisfy Sivakumar who then continued to push Halimah until Azhar ordered Sivakumar out of the hall for 10 minutes.
The war of words argument continued until Kula accused Azhar of deliberately covering up to help Halimah and the government.
“What do I want to cover up ? Anyone who wants to interrupt needs to ask permission first and can only speak when invited.
“Interrupting is not just for everything, but to ask for an explanation only. I have given a lot of leeway,” he said before proceeding to adjourn the Dewan Rakyat sittings until 12.55pm.
Halimah’s winding-up speech session then resumed uninterrupted until 1.10pm.
In January, MACC arrested 22 individuals in operations in seven states, in connection with the misappropriation of Mitra funds.
It is understood that the operation was triggered by MACC’s investigations, which identified 337 companies, associations, and NGOs receiving allocation grants from 2019 to 2021 involving an allocation of approximately RM203 million. – The Vibes, March 16, 2022
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