PARLIAMENT The Dewan Rakyat today rejected a question from Bagan MP Lim Guan Eng on RM52 billion worth of bumiputera-allocated shares in the stock market that have reportedly gone missing.

penang third bridge project signing 061013 lim guan engJust like the question posed by PKR's Penampang MP Darell Leiking yesterday on the Sabah and Sarawak agreements on joining Malaya to form Malaysia, Lim's question was also rejected for being "petty".

Lim had in his written question asked the government whether it plans to set up a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) to investigate where the shares went to.

"If there are any parts of the question that the Parliament does not like, it can amend the question, not reject it as petty," he told reporters at the Parliament lobby today, referring to the rejection notice sent to him by Parliament secretary Roosme Hamzah.

In 2009, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak admitted that of the RM54 billion shares allocated for bumiputeras, only RM2 billion are now in the hands of the bumiputeras.

Lim said the missing shares were an important matter and should not be seen as a "petty" matter.

"We want the money to be traced back and returned to the poor Malays," added the Penang chief minister and DAP secretary-general.

He also pointed out that the RM52 billion value was estimated at the time of the shares were issued, and that the value of the shares could have doubled or tripled over the years.

Lim had said more than three years ago that if the shares were not missing, it could have helped the government realise its target of having a 30 percent bumiputera equity in the national economy.

He was also unhappy that many of the Opposition MPs had their questions rejected by the Parliament and this very rarely happened to the BN MPs.

"Why is it that only opposition MPs are having their questions rejected?" he asked.

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