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Media Statement      
by Lim Kit Siang  
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(Petaling Jaya, Sunday) : Before I left Kuala Lumpur last Sunday for Tokyo for an international conference at the Japan Diet, I had issued a media statement calling on the Dewan Rakyat House Committee under the chairmanship of the Speaker to come out of its hibernation and hold an emergency meeting to take ownership of the many deplorable problems of Parliament House – roof leaking and even fire risks from short circuit despite a RM100 million renovation two years ago – and to resolve them once and for all.

The sole Opposition MP on the House Committee, Tan Kok Wai (DAP – Cheras) wrote to the Speaker, Tan Sri Ramli Ngah as Chairman of the House Committee on Monday asking for a House Committee meeting to discuss matters concerning Parliament’s leaky roofs, wiring, details of the building’s renovation and upgrading, its progress and the contractor’s inefficiency.

I just checked with Kok Wai and he told me that no meeting of the House Committee has been convened.

The other members of the House Committee apart from the Speaker and Kok Wai are all from the Barisan Nasional: the  Chairman of Barisan Nasional Backbenchers Club, Dato Raja Ahmad Zainudin bin Raja Omar (BN – Larut); P. Komala Dewi (Kapar),  Datuk Goh Siow Huat (BN - Rasah), Datuk Wan Junaidi bin Tuanku Jaafar (Santubong) and Datuk Suhaili bin Abdul Rahman (Labuan).

Malaysians are seeing a disgraceful aspect of Parliament - MPs of the Dewan Rakyat House Committee who are not in the least bothered about the scandals of leaking roof and fire hazards in Parliament despite RM100 million renovation. 

Parliamentarians who are not in the least bothered about the parliamentary scandals of leaking roof and fire hazards should not sit in the House Committee in the first place and should resign and be replaced by other MPs who are more conscientious and responsible about their parliamentary responsibilities.

Let Raja Ahmad, Komala, Goh Siow Huat, Wan Junaidi and Suhaili justify to the Malaysian public their utter indifference about the deplorable state of Parliament House, which comes directly under their responsible as members of the House Committee. Are they all afraid of Works Minister, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu?

(27/5/2007)