Comment : ‘Pay first’, people second

By Jeswan Kaur

The push for a salary hike for MPs by minister Nazri Aziz shows that for certain MPs the 'people first' slogan promoted by Najib has little or no bearing.

Malaysia’s MPs are notorious for skipping Parliament sessions, so much so that their 2009 no-show in Parliament almost led to the 2010 Budget narrowly escaping rejection.

The close call came about after only 66 out of the 140 BN MPs voted in favour of the 2010 Budget while 63 out of the 82 Pakatan Rakyat MPs voted otherwise.

Recouping from the 2009 nightmare, newly minted Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak then announced that all MPs would be made to wear permanent ankle tags with global positioning features.

Najib then said the anklet was a way to counter the rising absenteeism and making sure the MPs attended Parliament sittings.

“I’ve always tolerated Members of Pparliament who need to skip the sittings once in a while, perhaps to attend to affairs in their constituencies. But when a MP is missing half the time, then he or she’s just makan gaji buta (getting money for nothing),” Naib then said.

He added that with the US-made device, no MP would be able to lie about their whereabouts, as their location would be monitored by a newly set up task force headed by minister in charge of Parliament, Nazri Abdul Aziz.

“We’d be able to tell if a MP is playing truant. The device can pinpoint exactly where they are, so if they say they can’t make it to a sitting because they’re busy helping some poor farmer get his buffalo out from some dried mudhole, they’d better not be fibbing. We’d know if they’re having a massage in some hotel or catching New Moon at a cineplex,” Najib had said.

Desperation was evident in Najib’s words when he further remarked that if needed, he would order the country’s spy satellites to monitor and capture the image of the MPs and their whereabouts.

This “I mean busines” display from Najib was in 2009.

Two years later, he very generously sanctioned a RM30 million allocation to raise the salary and allowances of parliamentarians in the 2012 Budget, that too after an eleventh hour proposal made by Nazri.

Was the anklet talk all hogwash as barely 24 months down the road, Najib had no problem giving the MPs a pay hike, provided this proposal was equally supported by the opposition. Thankfully, the pay hike received no support from the opposition.

Stop lying

But then cunning politicians never mean what they say and in 2009 Najib was no different. Then, he even showed a screenshot of a MP from Negri Sembilan having a smoke outside the Parliament building.

“As you can see, with such details, no MP would be able to lie about their activities. Heck, you can even tell the brand of the ciggie he’s holding!” was what Najib told a packed media in Parliament.

Two years ago, too, Najib admitted that the GPS monitoring system was not the solution. Enforcement was crucial.

In Najib’s own words: “We’re considering some punitive actions against MPs who still don’t attend sittings.”

“These people are paid to not just serve their constituencies and campaign for re-elections, but also to work as parliamentarians formulating national policies. That means they have to spend some quality time in the House.

“There are several options, ranging from warning memos to pay deductions. My personal recommendation for these hard-core absentees is to add on remote-controlled electric shocks to their tags. The kind you find in Taser guns. After three cases of unwarranted absence, BZOOTT!” he laughed. “That’ll motivate them to attend sittings.”

MPs always playing truant

Shirking their responsibilities towards their constituencies is something parliamentarians in this country delight in. According to press reports, even during normal time, the number of MPs sitting in the hall is less than the quorum of 26.

Instead of being present in the Dewan Rakyat sittings, MPs prefer to idle the time owed to their constituents by chatting away at the cafeteria and corridors while some quietly sneak out of Parliament House.

How then is a rise in salary and allowance of parliamentarians justified?

There were cases where MPs cited the most ridiculous of excuses to refrain from attending the Dewan Rakyat sittings. The 2009 close call had one parliamentarian citing “vegetarian” as a reason to not attend the sittings.

“I’m a vegetarian. As the cafeteria of the Parliament does not provide any vegetarian food, I usually eat outside. As they already knew that we had to vote for the Budget that night, they should have got the dinner ready for the lengthy sitting; they were not three-year-old kids after all.”

Then there was the Kinabatangan MP, Bung Mokhtar Radin, who was absent because he was busy tying the knot for the second time around. Amusingly, news of his polygamous union attracted more attention than the narrowly missed 2010 Budget.

Incidentally, sexist MPs like Bung Mokhtar, Ibrahim Ali and Mohd Said Yusof have never failed to vulgarise the House, through their obscene remarks and utter disrespect for their female parliamentarians and women in general. Do such MPs deserve a pay raise?

However, all is not lost as there are some MPs, despite being few and far between, who have proved their dedication to their constituents. One such parliamentarian is Deputy Human Resources Minister Maznah Mazlan who, albeit being informed of her father’s death, remained in the Dewan Negara for two hours to answer questions before rushing back to Cameron Highlands.

Accountability and not pay hike is what is missing as far as the MPs are concerned.

MPs, set your priorities right

The objection to the salary rise for MPs has made Nazri, who is also Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, unhappy. He is angry that some “big wig” opposition leaders have objected to the salary and allowance increases for parliamentarians.

Feigning concern over the financial stress faced by junior MPs, Nazri put forth a proposal to Najib to raise the salary and allowances. It was based on a report by a bipartisan parliamentary committee formed last year and completed 48 hours before the budget was unveiled.

Using the report to bring in the money, Nazri “convinced” Najib to make the eleventh hour addition to the budget.

But thanks to some quick-thinking opposition MPs, the proposal was shot down, annoying the ever hopeful Nazri who said opposition leaders like Anwar Ibrahim, Azmin Ali, Lim Guan Eng, Salahuddin Ayub and Dzulkefly Ahmad had “opened their mouths too soon” to state their opinion against the proposed allocation.

Nazri’s ire at failing to see a hike in salary stems from the fact that Najib had generously proposed to put aside RM30 million on the condition that Nazri succeeded in getting unanimous support from fellow parliamentarians. Thankfully, Nazri’s little ploy flopped.

Just how many of the parliamentarians have sincerely dug into their pockets to help the needy? Where are these parliamentarians when reports highlighting the plight of the poor and underprivilege surface?

Perhaps parliamentarians like Nazri should adopt the motto “pay and then I’ll serve the rakyat” as a condition to offer any form of assistance to the community.

Nazri’s contention is that the issue of salary and allowances of MPs has been brought up numerous times in the last seven years, saying:

“The government’s answer has (always) been that it is not the right time,” he added.

“Why should MPs who are serving the people pay rent out of their own pockets? I have been a MP for the past 16 years; I am a minister, I know what I am talking about,” he said.

What is wrong for a MP to do some “amal jariah” or charity and empty their wallets to help the very people whom they represent? Does Nazri expect something in return each time he lends the needy person a helping hand?

In any case, MPs like Nazri have proven that the “people first” slogan being promoted by Najib has little or no bearing in their lives as the people’s representatives.

(Jeswan Kaur is a freelance writer and a FMT columnist)

Source : FMT