By Selangor Journal Team
SHAH ALAM, July 15 — Selangor State Legislative Assembly Speaker Lau Weng San has instructed opposition leader Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali to retract his statement accusing the former of partiality.
Lau also wants the Hulu Kelang assemblyman to issue an apology.
“It can be concluded that several allegations by the opposition leader in his statement (on Facebook) were inaccurate and unprofessional,” he said in a lengthy statement today.
“Traditionally, in Parliaments that practise the Westminster system, the Speaker is not permitted to participate in debates or question-and-answer sessions with any members of the House.
“Nevertheless, the Speaker must not take lightly wild accusations of being unfair and biased. The honourable opposition leader needs to acknowledge these mistakes, retract the false statements and apologise.”
On May 11, after the second meeting of this year’s state assembly, Azmin took to Facebook to accuse Lau of being unprofessional and acting against the law when chairing the House.
Azmin said the sitting was shortened to five days from the stipulated 10, and that opposition lawmakers were not given ample opportunity to ask questions and raise arguments.
Separately, in the state assembly sitting, Azmin accused the Speaker of being afraid to allow representatives to debate his ruling that Selat Klang assemblyman Datuk Abdul Rashid Asari need not vacate his seat despite declaring support for the Selangor government in March, while being an opposition member.
In his statement today, Lau explained he did not allow for a debate as his speech was not part of any motion or bill that necessitated a wind-up from the state government.
He said he made the decision after considering documents and evidence submitted by both Azmin and Rashid to his office, as well as statements made in and outside the state assembly.
“An explanation has been provided on how my decision was reached. The function of the Speaker under the state enactment thereafter can be described as ‘functus officio’.”
Lau rubbished Azmin’s claim that opposition lawmakers were only given 10 minutes each to debate the First Selangor Plan mid-term review, and that they were not provided enough opportunity to pose questions to the state administration during the question-and-answer session.
He said Azmin was given 50 minutes to debate the mid-term review, while other assemblymen had 15 minutes each.
Lau added out of the 64 oral questions that were raised throughout the proceeding, 27 of them (42 per cent) were from the opposition. Azmin’s bench was also afforded 45 supplementary questions (54 per cent) out of the overall 84.
On the decision to shorten the sitting to five days, the Speaker said that during Azmin’s time as Menteri Besar, fewer days were allocated for the second meeting each year: four days in 2015 and just two days each in 2016 and 2017.
“I would also like to note that although no bills were presented in the recent assembly sitting, the daily sessions were extended by one or two hours, resulting in the assembly’s total time in session exceeding a week, in terms of hours.”
Lau also pointed out that this week, the 266th Conference of Malay Rulers is on Wednesday and Thursday, while the coronation of His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, King of Malaysia, is on Saturday.
“Menteri Besar Dato’ Seri Amirudin Shari will accompany Sultan of Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah to both these programmes. I believe the opposition leader knows and understands the duties of the Menteri Besar in this matter,” he said.
