KUCHING: Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Dr George Chan yesterday advised Barisan Nasional (BN) MPs in Sarawak to hold a discussion to iron out differences in opinion on the ‘debate-shy’ parliamentar-ians.
He rationalised that some BN MPs did not participate in debates as actively as others because of limited opportunities to do so.
“All should sit down and make arrangement on how to be given opportunities to speak,” Dr Chan told reporters here yesterday.
He was asked for his views on MPs who said they were offended by Deputy Speaker of Parliament Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar’s remarks that Sarawakian politicians were a shy lot and quiet in Dewan Rakyat although their attendance was impressive.
In his statement front-paged by The Borneo Post on Friday, Junaidi was quoted as saying that Sarawak BN MPs were among the least active when it came to speaking in parliament, thus had a very low rate of involvement during debates.
This irked some MPs who demanded an apology from Junaidi on Saturday. Batang Sadong MP Nancy Shukri said they were unhappy with Junaidi’s statement because it made them appear ineffective in the eyes of their constituents.
However, in an interview on Sunday, Junaidi who is Santubong MP, said his constructive comments were based on facts.
Nevertheless, he offered to hear them out when he said: “To those who are offended by my statement … the door to my office is always open.”
Junaidi also said that at one particular time no state BN MPs rose to defend Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud when several opposition members verbally attacked the state leaders.
Dr Chan who is Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) president said it did not really matter much whether some BN parliamentarians were quiet in the Dewan Rakyat as long as they executed their work as elected representative well on the ground.
“Not all MPs must speak up unless there are important issues … There is no need to speak so much as long as they deliver the goods. No point talking all the time if they don’t deliver the goods to the people,” he said.
He said some issues could be sorted out without being brought up in the Dewan Rakyat and this could be a reason contributing to inactive participation among Sarawak BN MPs in parliament.
Dr Chan said it would be unfair to expect all BN MPs to speak up like the opposition MPs.
As for state BN MPs failing to defend Taib, he said these parliamentarians should have defended the chief minister but possibly due to circumstances, they did not.
Dr Chan said any MPs who wished to participate in the Dewan Rakyat actively should do so with facts and figures and because they had important issues to raise, but not just for the sake of speaking up.
“When you speak, the people should respect you. Those who speak nonsense, whether they are from the opposition or government bench, are just wasting other people’s time,” he said.
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