The cabinet must discuss the crack-ridden Kepong overpass during its weekly meet despite Works Minister S Samy Vellu having gone abroad, Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang said today.

He said the issue must be raised this Wednesday in order to find a quick solution to the matter which has left thousands of motorists in the lurch.

"Although Samy Vellu has gone for a five-day junket to India, (Prime Minister) Abdullah (Ahmad Badawi) should ensure that the cabinet takes a proper decision on the Middle Ring Road II (MRRII) flyover cracks scandal and give a clear public accounting on its causes and rectification," he added in a statement.

Lim, who is also DAP chairperson, urged the cabinet not to repeat what happened at its last meeting when promises by both Transport Minister Chan Kong Choy and the works minister to present the RM20 million budget proposal for the repairs failed to be tabled.

"The cabinet meeting on Aug 18 did not discuss the closure at all and no explanation has been forthcoming to date as to why they had broken their public pledges to get approval for immediate action to rectify the flyover cracks," he said.

Lim asked if there would be a minister acting for the Works Ministry at the upcoming cabinet meet and whether Chan would be bold enough to raise the issue in Samy Vellu's absence.

Puzzling move

On the same note, the veteran politician registered surprise as to why the works minister did not submit his working paper on the issue last week if he knew he was going abroad.

"Why did he fail to present the working paper to the cabinet on Aug 18 knowing full well that he would be away the following Wednesday?" he asked.

'This does not speak well for the high hopes Abdullah has raised among Malaysians that his administration would be characterised by a full cabinet committed to principles of accountability," he added.

On Aug 8, the government closed the 1.7km stretch between Taman Bukit Maluri and the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia interchanges at MRRII after detecting a series of cracks on the support beams. This has led to serious traffic congestion in the area.

'Utter contempt'

Meanwhile, Lim, who has called on the Samy Vellu to resign, expressed disappointment with the premier for not taking his cabinet member to task over the issue.

"It is sad that the prime minister has not deemed fit to rein in his works minister who has become a great embarrassment to the Barisan Nasional's 2004 general election pledge for a clean, incorruptible, accountable, efficient, people-oriented government ... ," he said.

The opposition leader also took a swipe at Samy Vellu, saying that his trip to New Delhi at such a crucial time was '... another example of his utter contempt for the principles of accountability, transparency and good governance'.

"(He has left) in the lurch the hundreds of thousands of people adversely affected by the closure, without giving any clue as to the causes of the cracks and actions to be taken to repair or rectify them so that it could be safely re-opened for public use in the shortest possible time," he said.

The two-year-old MRRII project, which was said to be able to last 50 years, cost RM240 million.