Sunday May 11, 2008

Work cut out for newbie MPs

BY SIM LEOI LEOI

AFTER starting with a huge bang, Parliament settled down to a semblance of normalcy in its second week.

The old hands slipped back into “parliamentarian mode” as if the general election had never happened.

However, this was not the case for the “newbies” who were still feeling their way about. This naturally led to several hiccups and slip-ups, some caught on camera during the live telecast of Dewan Rakyat proceedings, others not.

One of the first to experience this was Petaling Jaya MP Tony Pua. Last week, he eagerly walked into the Dewan on his first day only to find himself on the wrong side of the House. He had used the wrong door and ended up among the Ministers and Deputy Ministers.

Luckily for him, the embarrassment, if any, would have lasted only a few seconds, as it was just a matter of finding the right door.

Not so for those who came to the House in brown or beige suits.

This was not so much a fashion faux pas as a violation of the rules of the House. MPs must wear dark lounge suits, and it took a senior minister to point this out to the novices.

It was not just the greenhorn MPs who were finding their way around, though.

After his failure to impose order the previous week, Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin took great care to ensure this was not repeated. He started off Monday’s sitting with a grave reminder to all MPs to keep the peace and stick closely to the agenda set out in the Order Paper.

He did so again as debate on the motion of thanks on the Royal Address kicked in, and again, later in the day. In fact, he did it for the whole week – each time the debates or Question Time looked to be veering off course.

The 53-year-old former Speaker of the Sabah State Assembly did not just have to learn how to keep the House in order. He also had to become familiar with 222 constituencies and their MPs.

One of the new MPs whose name he had problems with was Loh Gwo Burne (PKR – Kelana Jaya), and finally got the pronunciation right with some help from the Kelana Jaya representative.

Loh together with Nurul Izzah Anwar (PKR – Lembah Pantai) and Pua (DAP – Petaling Jaya Utara) were among the Opposition MPs who got to field their first questions in this second week of sitting.

However, if one were expecting Loh to suffer from stage fright and bungle his opportunity – especially since he has admitted to possessing no mastery of the Malay language – he pulled through confidently enough.

“I was actually quite excited. I think my first question in Dewan was okay. I didn’t have stage fright, I was more worried about the pronunciation,” he confessed later.

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s daughter Nurul Izzah breezed through her original question, but got stuck during her supplementary question.

The question somehow turned out to be longer that it should have been, and she ended up having to explain midway in English and much of the impact was lost.

It is also a “no-no” to switch to English – Malay has official status in the House and one actually has to seek permission to use English only if no translation can be found for a particular term or if one is reading from a text.

One of the complaints from the newcomers was the difficulty getting spotted by the Speaker for a chance to ask a supplementary question or to interject during a debate.

Chua Tee Yong (BN – Labis) has been trying for two weeks now, but has not had any luck.

“I have not counted the number of times I have stood up. Hopefully, I’ll get a chance to debate next Tuesday,” he said.

In the case of N. Gobalakrishnan (PKR – Padang Serai), persistence finally won the attention of Deputy Speaker Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar. But things turned comical when he sat down just as his name was called.

“Yang Berhormat duduk pulak (You have now sat down instead),” chided Wan Junaidi gently.

Gobalakrishnan apologised saying he had not expected to be called after standing numerous times without success.

Loh and Chua also commented on how the political divide rarely spilled over to the MPs' lounge or outside the Dewan.

Everyone saw how fabulously Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz gets on with archrival DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng (DAP –Bagan) as the two posed for pictures together in the Parliament lobby.

“I had the impression that both sides fought all the time, but some of the Barisan MPs are actually very nice,” admitted a surprised Loh.

His view was echoed by Chua, who makes it a point to arrive early in Parliament to mingle with both Barisan and Opposition MPs.

“I went to all the senior MPs so I could learn from them, even those from the Opposition,” he said.

Both still find citing of various Points of Order a bit intimidating, particularly when these come fast and furious during heated exchanges.

While something like “Standing Order 36(6) or 18(1)” can roll easily off the tongue of Dewan veterans, Loh felt that he still needed to regularly refer to the blue book to know what these actually meant.

“I haven’t been able to memorise it,” admitted Chua.

One person from whom both Chua and Loh could learn a lot about being an MP is Wee Choo Keong (PKR – Wangsa Maju).

It has been more than 10 years since Wee, who stood up to debate for the first time in the new Parliament on Friday touching on public security and Federal Territory issues, was disqualified from being an MP. When he spoke, it was as if he had never left.

“Standing Order 36 (6) refers to malicious intent on the part of an MP while 18(1) is for emergency motion.

“I still remember all the procedures. Even though I wasn’t an MP, I never forgot,” he said.

Perhaps then, being an elected representative is like riding a bicycle.

It is difficult, at first, and certainly painful when you fall. But once you've learnt how, you never forget.