Dewan Rakyat in uproar over helicopter usage
DIANA AZIS
KUALA LUMPUR - As Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan raises the issue of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's use of a helicopter during the recent state election campaign, the Dewan Rakyat had gone into an uproar with verbal war between Members of Parliaments.
It escalated when Sim Tze Tzin (PH-Bayan Baru) stood up to intervene and asked the opposition chief whip chief to withdraw the allegation against the Tambun MP describing the statement as malicious.
Takiyuddin (PN-Kota Bharu) who ignored the interruption resumed his speech which drove Datuk Che Mohamad Zulkifly Jusoh (PN-Besut) to stand up and use the Rules of Meeting stating that Sim had interrupted the speech.
Deputy Speaker Datuk Ramli Mohd Noor then reprimanded Sim and asked him not to interrupt the speech as Takiyuddin did not allow any interruption.
On the other hand, Sim insisted that he also meant to use the Rules of the Meeting to intervene as the Kota Bharu MP presented an argument based on a number of statements from social media.
"Kota Bharu made a statement based on netizens' accusations and he should not have taken Facebook and TikTok's reports. This is not the truth, but malicious allegations," he stressed.
Ramli then suggested that Sim submit a proposal regarding the matter since Takiyuddin debated by submitting a document referencing media reports outside the Dewan Rakyat.
Dissatisfied with the answer, Dr Mohammed Taufiq Johari (PH-Sungai Petani) stood up and asked Takiyuddin to withdraw the allegation that the Prime Minister refused to take the home restoration allowance just because he wanted to have the allocation to use a chopper.
"Your Honour, Kota Bharu had made a malicious assumption by stating that the PM refused to accept a house restoration for the purpose of using a helicopter. That is a malicious assumption. Please take it back," he insisted.
Defending Takiyuddin's act, Datuk Seri Dr Ronald Kiandee (PN-Beluran) asked the government MPs not to interfere using the Rules of the Meeting just to disrupt the debate session.
When debating the proposal for the Mid Term Review of the 12th Malaysia Plan (RMK12), Takiyuddin said that Anwar together with the Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had used three helicopters to attend the Village Entrepreneurs Carnival in Sungai Besar, Selangor last July.
"They used three helicopters which a few days prior, Sungai Besar JKR (Public Works Department) had to spend tens of thousands of ringgits to build a helipad to allow the PM to land there.
"The funny thing is that the people of Sungai Besar gave me a quote (report) from Sinar Harian which cited the PM's speech titled 'PM rejects home and vehicle restoration to help the target group'.
"Actually, he did not take the car allocation because he wanted to use the helicopter," he said.
