Cabinet ministers are not robots and they can't take all questions fielded by the parliamentarian, said Dewan Rakyat Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia in defence of the ministers today.

Pandikar Amin said that MPs must realise that not all issues raised spontaneously could be answered on the spot without referring to the facts.

He also said that it is more difficult as not all the ministers could speak fluently and answer the questions during the winding-up session.

Pandikar Amin said this following the eagerness of the MPs to stand up and raise various new questions which were irrelevant during the winding-up of the debates by the ministers.

"Questions that can be asked (during the winding-up) are those arising out of the vagueness of the replies and not new facts," he said during the winding-up of the motion on the mid-term review of the 9th Malaysia Plan.

Second appearance for Nor Mohamed

Meanwhile, Second Finance Minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop broke tradition when he appeared for the second time to wind up the debate.

Earlier, Pandikar Amin recalled Nor Mohamed to again wind up the debate and answer questions raised by several MPs.

Nor Mohamed said he was actually in a dilemma as he was keen to answer all the questions raised because the Dewan Rakyat was the best place to explain on government policies but he did not have the opportunity to do so.

"At the same time, I must respect my cabinet colleagues who don't have enough time (to answer the questions). But I don't want it to be a practice. I accept the speaker's advice, there are still 19 ministries waiting to wind up, I will keep my debate and winding-up short," he said.

Most of the questions raised by the MPs concerned the restructuring of the fuel price by the government which saw the subsidy on petrol and diesel being reduced, causing the retail price per litre at the petrol pumps to go up by 78 sen for petrol and RM1 for diesel.