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DEWAN DISPATCHES: Barisan's majority endures Anwar Ibrahim’s salvo to check for coalition infractionsby: Azmi AnsharDEWAN RAKYAT, May 28, 2008
The request for these funds was no different from previous entreaties – all of it seemed perfunctorily routine even when Deputy Speaker Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar called for a vote from MPs for the usual ayes and nays. Except that Tian Chua (PKR-Batu) complained that the ayes and nays were indistinguishable. At that time, MPs observed that the House lacked the quorum of 26 seats while faint voices were heard urging for a block vote But it was Azmin Ali (PKR-Gombak) who stood up to be heard the loudest. In all likelihood, he had prepared well in advance for this opportune moment and sensing it arriving, called for a “undian blok” (block voting). For Wan Junaidi, a rookie Deputy Speaker taken aback by the extraordinary demand, it must have been a moment of truth, one that would have defined his career or the fate of the coalition he represents. Initially, Wan Junaidi tried to hedge Azmin’s call after the latter claimed that the nays were “louder” than the ayes. "It is clear,” he explicitly set forth, “that that the voice of disagreement is louder than those who agree," before demanding for the block vote. Tian Chua (PKR-Batu) sinuously interjected: "As a matter of principle, we want to know who agreed to waste the people’s money”, triggering protests from Datuk Tajuddin Abdul Rahman (BN-Pasir Salak), who implored Tian Chua to peddle his dissatisfaction by protesting outside the House, an allusion to Tian Chua’s proclivity for street demonstrations. After listening in to more views pushing for block voting, Wan Junaidi ruled that 15 MPs’ ayes were needed to support the motion but no sooner had he stated it, 20 Opposition MPs stood up in abrupt unison, compelling the Deputy Speaker to order the House secretary to ring the bell for two minutes to summon MPs outside to enter the House. The sitting MPs then watched in amusement as MPs streamed inside the House, the BN with worriedly quizzical faces while Pakatan Rakyat MPs had the look as if they are witnessing lambs to the slaughter. The Opposition bloc rapidly swelled to 60, not to its full complement of 82. But if it was any delight to them, the BN was also scrambling to prop up their numbers, so much so that Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz had to dash out to the lobby to hustle up some unwary members to enter the House. Datuk Dr Ng Yen Yen, Datuk Liow Tiong Lai, Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam and other backbenchers hanging out in the lounge quickly abandoned their mid-morning tea to walk briskly into the House. Not content with their numbers, other Ministers attending the Dewan Negara next door were asked to abandon the Upper House and make their way into the Lower House. That was how worked up the BN members were in the face of the crucial face-off. It was that serious that even the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister had to make their way into the House. Only two Cabinet Ministers were noticeably missing – Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and Datuk Seri Azalina Othman. But before counting of the votes commenced, Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur) called for point of order 48 (7) (5) asking that members with “self-interest cannot support a motion and each parliamentarian needed to declare this.” However, BN MPs, including Datuk Noh Omar (BN-Tanjung Karang), Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal (BN-Semporna) and Datuk Lilah Yassin (BN-Jempol) promptly shouted at Lim for his “petty” move. Wan Junaidi agreed, rejecting Lim’s manoeuvre. “The question of interest was not raised in debates,” the Deputy Speaker adjudged. “And secondly, if we want to investigate one-by-one, we will not be able to solve this even in 2010. Everybody has interest in these funds because it is also used for salaries." During counting, the BN anxiously looked over its ranks to ensure that it had the necessary numbers to beat the opposition and allow the bill to pass. To buy time, vote collectors took the scenic route to gather the votes manually from the MPs. Datuk Ghapur Salleh (BN-Kalabakan), assigned to also collect votes from the Opposition bloc, took and double-took the tally that gave what seemed to be injury time for BN MPs to stream into the House. And so the Dewan Rakyat settled into its basic democratic mode: who has the biggest representation in the House and who can swing the majority. When the counting was completed, democracy in the real sense rocked and steadied. After the recondite reverberations simmered, the political statisticians would have recorded the numbers in the Government’s favour, much to their relief, at 92 – 60, only after they had to hastily summon the ranks for the majority swing. Exuberant over the high anxiety but inevitably expected victory, BN backbenchers thumped their tables loudly and hooted derisive jeers over the divide to the Opposition but M. Kulasegaran (DAP-Ipoh Barat) shrugged off the brickbats. "One day, we will get lucky," was his ominous response. Was that smugness or defiance in Azmin’s voice despite the defeat in the final countdown? “It was a moral victory for the Opposition,” was his firm appraisal. "The House respected our call. It is not everyday that you see a Prime Minister walking into the House to vote.” As for the other opposition MPs, satisfaction was etched in their faces. That notable blogger Jeff Ooi (DAP-Jelutong), sitting at one of the best seats to view theatrics, blogged the sensation of being involved in the block voting as “equitable democracy in process.” The only MP who didn’t care much for the voting was Mr Lone Ranger himself, Datuk Ibrahim Ali (Ind) who abstained, dismissing the entire process as a “waste of time and impractical.” "Even if I had voted, it won't make any difference," he said. “I will only give my vote on important issues like in the event of a migration of BN MPs to the Opposition.” Hishamuddin, while regretting that he failed to vote, goaded the Pakatan Rakyat to repeat the stunt. "We will win. We are the majority," he declared, portending perhaps to the Pakatan Rakyat’s threat that they will form the Government by Malaysia Day on Sept 16. And what of that, the anticipated crossing over of BN MPs into Pakatan Rakyat? Sabah MPs have played that card like a tense poker game when they upped the ante two weeks ago by simulating the notion that defections are acceptable if the swanky bungalow they occupy now meant that they have to sleep by the toilets while cutting out suggestions that they are indeed jumping across. It is a metaphor filled with conjecture and threat, something the BN would have to figure out when they do decide to call the Sabahan’s bluff by raising the stakes even further – by ignoring their pleas for more Cabinet representation and infrastructure projects in the state. Tomorrow is the Dewan Rakyat’s last day to meet in the current session but Sept 16 is 111 days away, well beyond the next meeting of the House which is on June 23 to July 13 but well into the Budget 2009 proceedings. During that spell, you can be sure that Anwar Ibrahim will recap today’s block voting as an experiment, a deep insight into the psyche of the BN MPs’ voting pattern while he recoils for another bite at the cherry, a more stinging slapshot at fracturing the BN’s delicate majority.
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