PKR wants more oral questions - The Sun

KUALA LUMPUR (April 28, 2008):

Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) wants the Dewan Rakyat to allot six questions to Pakatan Rakyat (PR) MPs in the allocation of 10 daily oral questions.

PKR vice-president and Chief Whip Mohamed Azmin Ali (PKR-Gombak) told a press conference today with PKR president Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (PKR-Permatang Pauh) that the house's administration failed to realise that the PR members outnumbered the Barisan Nasional (BN) backbenchers.

"There are 82 PR members and only 77 BN. The house can only accommodate 10 oral questions daily and based on the ratio between PR and BN, it would be wise for the Speaker to allocate six questions for PR members and four to BN for every oral question to be answered by a minister,” he said.

"PKR is disappointed with Parliament's administration for not recognising and respecting the position of the Opposition Leader (Wan Azizah). "The first written question tabled for April 30, was not given to Wan Azizah as it is normally the case in other democratic countries like Britain,” he said.

Mohamed Azmin produced his copy of the Parliament’s Standing Orders which showed that Wan Azizah’s question was slotted for third in proceedings.

He said he raised these concerns in an official letter to the Parliament Secretary and added that he would be meeting with Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia to address his concerns.

“It is further disappointing to note that the Opposition Leader was not given an official invitation to the swearing-in ceremony today (yesterday). She was only given a letter, and her spouse was not invited to the ceremony.

“All the MPs were given an invitation card with the official Parliament emblem bearing the MP’s name and his or her spouse. Wan Azizah was only given a letter but there was no invitation for her husband, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim,” he said.

Other PKR MPs present in the press conference include Wan Azizah’s daughter Nurul Izzah (Pantai Dalam), Wee Choo Keong (Wangsa Maju), N.Gobalakrishnan (Padang Serai) and Fuziah Salleh (Kuantan).