129 voted for, 78 against governments motion on price hikes

Tuesday June 24, 2008

THE Prime Minister passed his first test of confidence in Parliament when a motion which the Government tabled was passed with a convincing majority.

One hundred and twenty-nine Barisan MPs voted in support of it while 78 Opposition MPs voted against.

The motion, which was to call for support for the Government in the face of rising prices of oil and other items, was tabled by Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Samad.

Sabah Progressive Party MPs Datuk Dr Chua Soon Bui (BN – Tawau) and Datuk Eric Enchin Majimbun (BN – Sepanggar) were not present.

SAPP had earlier created a storm when its leader said that it had lost faith in Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and that its two MPs would support a non-confidence vote in the Dewan.

It was their threat to initiate or support a motion of no confidence which resulted yesterday's motion being watched closely as it could have been turned into test of confidence in Abdullah and the Government.

Frontbenchers who were not present yesterday were Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Zulhasnan Rafique, Minister in Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim.

Backbenchers who were not in the House were Datuk Seri Radzi Sheikh Ahmad (BN – Kangar), Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz (BN – Kuala Kangsar), Raimi Unggi (BN – Tenom), Datuk Tiong Thai King (BN – Lanang), Datuk Dr James Dawos Mamit (BN – Mambong) and Datuk Seri Tengku Azlan Sultan Abu Bakar (BN –Jerantut).

Opposition MPs who were not present were Gobind Singh Deo (DAP – Puchong), Nurul Izzah Anwar (PKR – Lembah Pantai) and Chow Kon Yeow (DAP – Tanjong).

Although Barisan virtually sailed through the test without problem, the voting process was not without drama.

Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia was forced to call for block voting which resulted in a head count when the Opposition stood up en masse to protest against Deputy Speaker Datuk Ronald Kiandee's decision to call for voting by voice.

Voting by voice would require MPs in support of the motion to just yell “Ya” while those who did not to yell “Tak”. The louder side would be deemed to be the majority.

Kiandee had also declared that there were more voices in support of the motion.

Earlier, debate on the motion, which had started around 11.30am after Question Time, went on without controversy with 18 MPs picked to debate.

It was scheduled to end at 4.30pm but was extended until 6.45pm to allow more MPs to participate.

Earlier, Deputy Speaker Datuk Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar had to fix the debate time for each MP at 15 minutes after Datuk Paduka Ibrahim Ali (Ind – Pasir Mas) insisted that the Chair do so in order to be “fair”.