Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Parliament to consider probe on PM over oil royalty claim


The Dewan Rakyat will consider probing an allegation made by an opposition MP that the prime minister had misled Parliament over the Kelantan oil royalty issue.

PAS Kubang Kerian MP Salahuddin Ayub accused Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak of lying when he told Parliament during the 2010 Budget debate that a state can receive royalty money only if fossil fuel is extracted within three nautical miles from the state’s shore.

Najib said this law disallowed claims made by the PAS Kelantan government for its five per cent oil royalty money from national oil company Petronas.

Salahuddin had invoked Standing Order 36 (12) immediately after the morning’s Question Time in an apparent bid to test the consistency of the Speaker following a ruling that allowed a BN MP to issue a “threat” to Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim yesterday.

The BN MP had invoked Standing Order 37 (1) to ask Anwar to apologise for his allegation that the 1 Malaysia concept was copied after the 1 Israel movement that marked former Israel PM Ehud Barak’s administration in 1999.

Opposition MPs, however, claimed the point of order raised by the Kota Belud MP could only be invoked to ask for an explanation.

Deputy Speaker Datuk Ronald Kiandee subsequently allowed the BN MP to speak, setting a precedent in the Dewan Rakyat pertaining to the point of order.

The Malaysian Insider understands the opposition intends to exploit the precedent to pressure its rivals as evident in Salahuddin’s action today.

Deputy Speaker Datuk Wan Junaidi Jaafar, forced by the new precedent, said today he would need a few weeks to study the documents Salahuddin has which he claims prove that Najib had misled Parliament.

The Kubang Kerian MP said he was more than willing to co-operate with the Speaker by providing all the necessary evidence to back his claims.

courtesy of Malaysian Insider

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