Thursday, April 20, 2006

Sairin ordered out over attire

Daily Express

An Assemblyman was ordered out of the House after he was found violating the official dress code, Wednesday.

Just as the question-and-answer session was about to start at 10am, Deputy Speaker Datuk James Vitalis ordered Datuk Sairin Karno (Liawan) to leave the House for wearing a suit and a white collarless shirt without tie. His attire was similar to that worn by Jelebu MP, Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim, in Parliament that also caused a stir recently.

Sairin's attire was raised by Backbenchers Club Chairman who is also Sulabayan Assemblyman, Datuk Mohd Lan Alani, who stated that the ala Nehru attire had never been approved by the State Cabinet even though it has been approved by the Federal Cabinet.

"We feel the Liawan Assemblyman is aware about this and should leave the House immediately to change his clothes," he said.

Vitalis asked Mohd Lan the decision of the Parliament when dealing with Dr Rais' case.

Just as Mohd Lan was about to stand up, Datuk Lajim Ukin (Klias) stood up to defend Sairin, saying he was properly attired and it was not jeorpardising the House's integrity.

Vitalis replied that it was unprecedented as it was the first time it was brought up by any assemblyman. He agreed to let Sairin stay but this was met by objections from Mohd Lan who insisted that Sairin leave the House.

In the ensuing argument, Sairin stood up and expressed his readiness to leave and change his clothes.

As the controversy gained momentum, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman asserted that he supported the request by Mohd Lan for Sairin to leave the House as the attire had not been approved by the State Cabinet.

Vitalis then directed Sairin to leave that was met by a round of applause from assemblymen.

Met outside the House, Sairin claimed he was not aware about his attire violating the dress code since he believed it was already approved at the Federal Cabinet level.

"(But) I have no problem to change my clothes," he said and reappeared in the House at 10.30am wearing a suit and a white shirt with a tie. He was given a round of applause.

Query on agreements angers CM

Jaswinder Kaur

THE routine question-and-answer session turned fiery when Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman took an assemblyman to task over a question.

Philip Lasimbang (BN- Moyog), in a supplementary question, had asked if culprits involved in signing lopsided agreements had been penalised. Musa asked Lasimbang to be specific, to which the assemblyman responded that his statement was a general one.

Musa pressed him to tell the House which agreements he was talking about."Before the BN Government. Before this," Lasimbang said, trailing off."You must be specific. Don’t lie if you don’t have the facts and figures. "You are questioning the Government. You must know what you are talking about," Musa said, irritated.

He said Lasimbang should not "mislead the House" and must give examples so that action could be taken against those involved in signing such agreements."If it was in the past, then say it was in the past. "If it’s now, I want to know when. Which one? I will take action," said Musa, who is also Finance Minister.

Lasimbang then thanked Musa and said he was referring to agreements in the past and wanted to know what type of action was taken against those involved.Musa continued: "Maybe this happened in the past. There were lopsided agreements which the Government was tied to. We are addressing this. "There are tens and hundreds of cases with the Attorney-General’s Chambers and in the courts. "We receive suits and we also sue those who have done wrong things.

"These things can’t be solved in an instant. A single case takes years to solve." Musa also said it was unfair to say there was no improvement in the Government as its agencies were paying back their dues and those that were doing well were declaring dividends. A total of RM100 million was collected from government agencies last year.

Lasimbang’s supplementary question that rattled Musa came after Assistant Finance Minister Datuk Sapawi Ahmad said the Government was continuing to stress the need for prudent spending and that circulars had been issued on this matter.