Dewan Rakyat speaker Ramli Ngah Talib rejected the 'urgent motion' put by Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang to debate the RM4.6 billion bailout of the troubled Port Klang Free Zone as Parliament resumes today.

"The government is looking into the matter and as such there is no need to debate it in Parliament," said Ramli in disallowing the debate.

In an immediate reaction, Lim said that he was "disappointed" by the speaker's action and considered it a setback in the campaign against corruption.

"It would appear that no Barisan Nasional MP (member of parliament) is prepared to take a principled stand demanding full parliamentary accountability of the scandal," he said.

But Lim said he was undaunted.

"I will continue to demand full and proper accountability for the scandal in the current budget meeting of Parliament," said the veteran opposition leader, who is DAP MP for Ipoh Timur.

Nation's biggest bailout

In a series of reports two months ago, malaysiakini revealed a tale of corruption, abuse of power and mismanagement involving the mega-project.

The PKFZ was mooted eight years ago by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, but much of the debt incurred after his handpicked successor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, took the helm.

The free trade zone aims to turn Malaysia into a cost-effective logistics and manufacturing hub that would rival Singapore and China.

Jafza International, the global free trade zone operator responsible for turning Dubai's Jebel Ali Free Zone into a premier investment destination, was tapped to operate and manage the project.

But last month, Jafza walked out of the project after a series of disagreements with the free trade zone's main promoter, the state-controlled Port Klang Authority.

This included the discovery by the Dubai-based company regarding discrepancies in the minutes of some key meetings and an audit indicating that financial transactions could open Jafza to potential charges of tax evasion in Malaysia.

As the ailing PKA is unable to meet its debt repayments, the government had last week agreed to approve a multi-billion ringgit "soft loan' to the agency.

Details of the RM4.6 billion bailout - considered the biggest bailout in the country's history - has yet to be revealed.

Ling's selective memory

Meanwhile, former MCA president Dr Ling Liong Sik broke his silence on the scandal which was initiated when he helmed the Transport Ministry.

According to Ling, the intention of PKFZ was to copy Dubai's Jebel Ali, which had 4,500 factories supplying to the whole of the Gulf region, by combining port trade with Jebel Ali and bring at least half the factories to Port Klang as a base to supply to Asean.

It was reported that the Port Klang Authority bought the 1,000 acre land for PKFZ at RM25 per sq ft (psf) from Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd - a piece of land it had earlier bought in 1999 for RM95mil, or RM3 per sq ft.

Lim accused the former MCA chief of "selective memory" about the cabinet decision on the acquisition of the land when Ling claimed that he could not remember the actual price paid.

"It was the Transport Ministry which insisted that the land be bought at RM25 psf on the ground that it was feasible and self-financing and would not require a single ringgit of public funding."

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