Azmi is the new PAC chairperson

Below are snippets of the happenings in the Parliament today, leading with the appointment of former cabinet member Azmi Khalid as the new chairperson of the powerful PAC.

Azmi is the new PAC chairperson

The Dewan Rakyat today passed a motion to appoint Padang Besar MP Azmi Khalid (right) as the Public Accounts Committee chairperson and DAP MP for Kepong Dr Tan Seng Giaw as deputy chairman.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, who tabled the motion, said the government's decision to appoint Azmi as PAC chairperson was not contrary to the law and House Standing Orders though Azmi had served as a minister before.

"This has happened before when Johor Baharu MP Shahrir Abdul Samad was a minister before heading the PAC and he had discharged his duties well," he said when replying to points raised during the debate on the motion.

Nazri said Azmi was appointed to the post based on his experience as a cabinet minister while Tan was respected as he had served as a member of Parliament for seven terms.

Earlier, the motion tabled by Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur) to appoint Tan as chairperson and Azmi as deputy chairman was rejected by the house.

Selection committee set up

Parliament set up its selection committee today despite opposition from Pakatan Rakyat representatives over the composition of members

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz had moved the House for the seven-member committee to consist of Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia, Najib Abdul Razak (BN-Pekan), Ong Ka Ting (BN-Kulai), Bernard Giluk Dompok (BN-Penampang) and Dr S Subramaniam (BN-Segamat).

Opposition leader Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (PKR-Permatang Pauh) and Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timor) were also appointed.

Among its main functions is to inform the House of the nomination of members to other committees such as the Public Accounts Committee.

Dr Mohd Hatta Md Ramli (PAS-Kuala Krai) and Kamaruddin Jaffar (PAS-Tumpat) called for the committee to reflect the presence of political parties in Parliament - in particular, PAS, which has more representatives than MCA and MIC.

Tian Chua (PKR-Batu) asked if Najib’s appointment raised a question of conflict of interest, given his position as deputy premier.

Nazri replied that the ratio of BN to Pakatan parliamentarians dictates the appointment of four BN to two Pakatan members.

Although MIC has less of a presence than PAS or Sarawak and Sabah parties, the choice of Subramaniam is ensure that the Indian Malaysian community is represented, he explained.

If the opposition wants other parties to be represented, either Wan Azizah or Lim would have to forego their seats, Nazri added.

No favouritism in awarding double track project

National railway network KTM Bhd's electrified double-tracking project will cost a total or RM16.935 billion, said deputy transport minister Lajim Ukin.

This consists of the RM12.485 billion double-tracking project from Ipoh to Padang Besar and the RM3.45 billion double-tracking project from Seremban to Gemas, he added in answer to a question from Mohd Hayati Othman (PAS-Pendang).

He also added that Indian-based Ircon (International Limited) was picked for the project based on the company's potential and not its influence.

"What is wrong if someone, be they the children of the prime minister, or children of the opposition, can strive to get contracts overseas? It is not wrong," he said.

Mohamed Hayati had also queried regarding the rise in the project cost from RM8 billion to RM16 billion as a result of projects given in reciprocation to companies closely linked to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

The session was disrupted briefly as some backbenchers objected to the picture painted by the PAS representative that the company awarded the project was under the 'armpit' (ketiak) of the prime minister.

Lajim also said an October 2007 survey found that 1,521 families staying informal settlements in Perak, Penang, Kedah and Perlis, on the one hand, and 86 families from Negri Sembilan, Melaka and Johor, on the other, had to be relocated to make way for the double-tracking project.

More than 40 percent former drug inmates ‘undetected'

About half of the 82,882 former inmates of the country's drug treatment centres who have gone on to their two-year ‘community supervision' rehabilitation program between 2002 and 2007 slipped out of the authorities' detection radar, said the Home Ministry today.

Answering a question from Abdul Manan Ismail (BN - Paya Besar), Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar told Parliament that 44.6 percent of the former inmates could not be detected after they left the treatment centres.

Syed Hamid also said while 1.2 percent had died, almost a quarter (21.5 percent) returned to their drug habits while 32.7 percent succeeded in completing the community supervision programme.

As of April 2008, a total of 7,335 are currently undergoing treatment and rehabilitation in the various drug treatments and rehabilitation centres throughout the country, while 18,774 former inmates are currently undergoing the two-year community supervision programme.

Zaid: No need for royal commission into 1988 tribunal

De facto law minister Zaid Ibrahim said there was no need for a royal commission of inquiry to investigate the 1988 tribunal that dismissed former Lord President Salleh Abas and later saw the suspension of five other judges.

"There's no need for (such) a commission right now," he told reporters when met in Parliament lobby today.

Zaid was responding to the recent spat that has arisen between Salleh and prominent lawyer Matthias Chang, who had served as political secretary to former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

In his blog posting entitled ‘Tun Salleh: Guilty or not guilty for Judicial Misconduct?', Chang - who said he had played "a critical role in defending the judiciary in general and Salleh in particular" in 1988 - expressed his regret in defending Salleh.

Following this, Salleh said if Chang doubts his innocence, he should devote his energies towards getting the government to agree on establishing a royal commission of inquiry to investigate the circumstances of his dismissal and the suspension of the five other judges.

Last March, Zaid said the government should apologise to Salleh and two other Supreme Court judges over their sacking and suspension.

The government later on said no such apology would be made, but qualified this somewhat by giving to Salleh and five other judges ex-gratia payment.