KUALA LUMPUR: Perikatan Nasional lawmaker Datuk Wan Saiful Wan Jan came to the defence of his party leaders who were purportedly absent during today's Parliament sitting.
Wan Saiful, who is Tasek Gelugor member of parliament, said the Prime Minister's Question Time (PMQ) should instead be improved similar to Britain's Westminster parliamentary system where the opposition leader was given a slot to question the prime minister.
"For everyone's information, only MPs mentioned by the Speaker can ask questions during the PMQ while others cannot ask anything.
"And the speaker only allows one supplementary question from the original question as well as one additional question from the other party.
"That means if it's my turn to ask the original question, only myself from the PN side can ask one additional question, and only one other person from the government can ask one question after my question," he said in a Facebook post.
Wan Saiful was referring to claims by Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil that three opposition leaders; Bersatu secretary-general Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin, Perikatan Nasional chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Pas president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang were absent during PMQ session today.
Wan Saiful said the prime minister also avoided answering the questions posed in the Lower House.
"So, don't give the impression that during this prime minister's question slot, the leader of the opposition or the leader of the party can participate in asking questions. Do not spin towards a wrong perception.
"As far as I can see, the prime minister often avoids giving a full answer or the prime minister does not know the full answer. A lot of people ramble on without complete facts. There are times when even the name of the Act is not clear, even the sentences are sometimes confusing.
"So, what needs to be paid attention to is the quality of the prime minister's answers. If the quality of the prime minister's answers is low, then people's interest in listening must be lacking," he said.
