Issues on TPPA, vape and toll continue to draw interest in Parliament

KUALA LUMPUR: The Dewan Rakyat sitting this week saw the debate on the 2016 Supply Bill at the committee stage raising many issues from the Parliamentarians.

Twelve ministries were involved in the debate from Monday to Thursday with the main issues relating to the Works Ministry, International Trade and Industry Ministry, Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry, Health Ministry, and the Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Ministry.

During the debate on the Works Ministry, many Members of Parliament, regardless whether they were backbenchers or the opposition, raised the issue on highway toll rates. Both sides agreed that the toll rates will burden the people.
With regard to the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), the issue on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) continued to draw much interest from the MPs. They expressed their concern on its negative effects to the national economy.

The 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) issue on the sale of its subsidiary, Edra Global Energy Bhd to China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN Group), was the main topic in the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water debate.
The debate on the Health Ministry focused on the vape or e-cigarette, an issue that cropped up recently in the country.

In fact the debate and winding up on the ministry gave the picture as though it was a 'conference of doctors', because it was dominated by MPs with medical background.

Many MPs expressed their concern and called for immediate action to be taken to control vaping, where the ill effects of such activities have yet to be determined.

Meanwhile, the debate on the Ministry of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government, as expected, had issues on public housing as the main topic.

The MPs wanted the government to take immediate measures to ensure that more people in the country can afford homes in view of the drastic increase in price for housing units.
Outside the assembly hall, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) expressed dissatisfaction with the financial performance and accountability of the federal and state governments following the Third Series of the 2014 Auditor-General's Report.

PAC chairman Datuk Hasan Ariffin was reported as saying that based on the report, the PAC as a whole concluded that the government's performance this year had declined compared to 2013.

As such, the PAC called up seven ministries to give clarification on the projects supervised by them.

The issue on the meeting between Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar and the self-styled Sulu princess, Jacel Kiram in Manila, became a hot issue.

The government had decided to refer Nurul Izzah to the Parliament's Rights and Privileges Committee as her meeting with Jacel could be regarded as a "clear sign of her disloyalty to the nation".

In fact, the motion to refer Nurul Izzah to the committee had been included in the order of business and is expected to be tabled in Parliament on Dec 3. — Bernama