KUALA LUMPUR (Mar 7): Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia today declined questions raised by opposition lawmakers pertaining to controversial state-owned agency 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) on the grounds a bipartisan Public Accounts Committee (PAC) had already tabled its findings to Parliament last April.

“From what I recall, 1MDB has been discussed in detail in the PAC, which is a bipartisan committee, and the report has already been tabled in the Dewan Rakyat. So what is the issue that 1MDB is not being discussed now,” he asked Pokok Sena member of Parliament (MP) Datuk Mahfuz Omar who had raised a 1MDB-related question during a debate on the Royal Address in Parliament.

A dissatisfied Mahfuz said the continued rejection of any discussion on 1MDB by Pandikar would give the public the impression that the Speaker was defending the government or anyone who might be liable in the scandal.

“The reason I brought up this issue again is because every now and then there will be new updates on 1MDB, therefore it is important for the government to come to the Dewan Rakyat and explain themselve.”



Gelang Patah MP Lim Kit Siang was similarly unhapppy about the rejection of 1MDB-related questions in the current month-long parliamentary session.

At a media conference, he listed a number of Pakatan Harapan MPs who had questions shot down by the Speaker, noting they included Amanah MP for Sepang, Mohamed Hanipa Maidin, PKR MP for Bayan Baru Sim Tze Tzin, DAP MP for Taiping Nga Kor Ming and Amanah MP for Shah Alam Khalid Samad.

"DAP MP for PJ Utara (Tony Pua) has four questions and I have two questions relating to 1MDB which had (also) been rejected in the current meeting,” he said.

Lim had asked if Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak would push for a Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate the global financial scandal but his question was rejected on the basis it violated Dewan Rakyat Standing Order 23(1)(g) which barred questions that are “likely to prejudice a case under trial, or be asked on any matter which is sub judice”.

“I presume the Speaker is referring to the US Department of Justice (DoJ) kleptocratic litigation to forfeit US$4.5 billion 1MDB-linked assets in the US, UK and Switzerland. How on earth a court case in a foreign land can be used as an excuse to shut out discussion and debate in Parliament in Malaysia on a scandal, which had made Malaysia into a global kleptocracy, is beyond me. It is a great stain not only on Malaysia's Parliament but on parliamentary democracy in Malaysia,” he said.