BarisaSelangor State Legislative Assembly Hall becomes the biggest White Elephant in the state when ADUNs not keen to ask questions, state government only answered five questions and the Legislative Assembly Hall only convened for one day

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Media Statement 
by Lau Weng San
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(Petaling Jaya, Saturday) : The Selangor State Legislative Assembly Hall meeting was adjourned on 16^th July 2007 (Monday) after only convening for one day. More than 90 percent of the questions raised by Selangor ADUNs, whether oral or written questions will all be given written reply by the state government. 

There are altogether 177 oral questions and 27 written questions submitted to the State Legislative Assembly Hall for the second session of the year but only five oral questions were answered until 11am on 16^th July 2007. 

Selangor State Government spent tens of millions of ringgit to renovate the State Legislative Assembly Hall but the building is not put in good use when it degraded into the biggest White Elephant project in the State when the building is only used no more than five seating days a year, though there are 54 BN ADUNs in the Assembly Hall after winning a landslide victory in 2004 General Election. It seems that BN ADUNs are not keen to ask questions in the State Legislative Assembly Hall. 

In Selangor, there are altogether 56 ADUNs. Only two of them are DAP ADUNs, that means there are only 54 BN ADUNs, while 11 of them are the State Executive Council Members (Exco – Exco is similar to frontbenchers in the Parliament holding different portfolio), that means there are 43 BN “backbenchers” ADUNs. Together with the only DAP ADUN in Selangor (DAP ADUN for Sungai Pinang is still serving the unfair ban from the State Legislative Assembly Hall), there should be 44 eligible ADUNs to each raise 10 written questions and 10 oral questions. 

If the questions were not rejected by the Speaker, then the maximum number of questions can be asked are 440 oral questions and 440 written questions. Unfortunately, there were only 170 oral question (DAP ADUN for Sekinchan 9 and BN 168) and another 27 written question (DAP 8 and BN 19) raised by these 44 ADUNs. What is disappointing is that Selangor ADUNs are only utilizing 40 percent and six percent of the available opportunity to ask oral and written questions. 

DAP is playing its role 100 percent in the State Legislative Assembly Hall when the sole DAP ADUN in Selangor, YB Ng Suee Lim, submitted ten oral questions and another ten written questions to the State Leigislative Assembly Hall though his three questions were rejected by the Speaker. 

What is even more infuriating is that BN ADUNs were only utilizing 39 percent (oral questions) and 4 percent (written questions) of the opportunity available to them, and there were 8 ADUNs asking no question in the State Legislative Assembly Hall. MCA ADUN for Subang Jaya YB Lee Hwa Beng has been asking zero questions for three consecutive sessions! 

How about the number of questions managed to be answered by the State Government? Unfortunately, it is a deplorable percentage of only 3 percent, with five questions answered out of 177 questions. 

Is this the role model of a state who proclaimed it to be a developed state in Malaysia? Certainly the poor and deplorable performance of the State Legislative Assembly Hall does not speak for the developed state status of Selangor. 

This occurrence is due to the huge monopoly of BN in the State Legislative Assembly Hall. Absolute powers corrupt absolutely. When BN is in full grip of the State Legislative Assembly Hall, do you expect their ADUNs bother to speak up for the rakyat?                                                     

(28/7/2007)