Zaid hits back at critics

Wednesday May 28, 2008 MYT 2:16:45 PM

Dewan Rakyat: Zaid hits back at critics

By SIM LEOI LEOI

KUALA LUMPUR: Minister in Prime Minister's Department Datuk Zaid Ibrahim has hit out at his detractors, a day after a backbencher called for his appointment to be reviewed.

The de facto law minister denied that he had ever said that Barisan Nasional and Umno MPs should not criticise government policies or the Prime Minister.

“However, these criticisms must be constructive and be based on facts and policies, and not done in a humiliating way.

“During debate on May 22, Jerlun MP (Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir) had said that I was realising the Opposition's manifesto and not the Government’s.

“Similarly, Pasir Salak MP (Datuk Tajuddin Abdul Rahman) had stood up and asked whether I was an Opposition member or a Government minister,” he told reporters at the Parliament lobby here on Wednesday.

Zaid said that these two MPs had made “serious allegations” against him with their statements.

On Tuesday during debate, Tajuddin had called for Zaid's ministerial appointment to be reviewed, and alleged that the latter did not understand the role of legislators -- which was to criticise the Government.

He had referred to a newspaper article where Zaid had been quoted as saying that disciplinary action should be taken against those MPs who openly criticised government policies and the Prime Minister, and that he had heard such statements from the “Jerlun MP and Pasir Salak MP in Parliament.”

Zaid said he had been a far longer critic of the Government than both Jerlun and Pasir Salak MPs and that “he had never changed his colour.”

“We shouldn't use the excuse of criticism to embarass the Government. Our job is to support the Government. As long as the PM is still in his post, we cannot tell him to resign,” he said.

On Tajuddin's call for a review of his post, Zaid said that this was the Prime Minister's prerogative.

“If the PM feels that I should be replaced, it’s up to him. Similarly if he feels Pasir Salak should be replaced, it’s up to him," he added.