IPOH, April 8 — For the coming Perak assembly sitting, state executive councillors replying to oral questions from assemblymen will be given eight minutes to answer.
Perak Speaker Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham said this was to allow more questions to be raised in the assembly.
“In Parliament, ministers are given six minutes to answer oral and supplementary questions. For Perak, excos will be given five minutes to answer oral questions and if there are supplementary questions, the question must be asked in 30 seconds and the excos answer it in two-and-half minutes,” he told reporters at the State Secretariat building here.
The Beruas MP said the Perak Assembly was moving away from the previous practice which allowed excos to read long replies that sometimes lasted 20 minutes.
In the past sitting, Question Time for answering oral questions was set at one-and-half hours before the assembly moved on to discuss other agenda for the day. As such, a maximum of seven questions are answered in a day by the excos during the assembly.
On a separate matter, Ngeh also said the assembly’s special select committee would be allowed to decide whether to have their hearings in public or behind closed doors.
“After checking with the Perak Enactment, I have decided that all special select committees can decide to have their meetings in public or closed door [sic]. It is up to the discretion of the committee,” he said.
The matter arose after former Perak mentri besar Datuk Seri Zambry Abd Kadir said he refused to testify if the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) insisted on having its hearing in public.
The hearing is being held after Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu revealed that MB Inc had incurred RM40 million in losses over three years since its revival in 2012.
Asked when PAC would present its report, Ngeh said he was informed the committee was targeting the next assembly sitting in July.
Ngeh also said Sultan of Perak Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah would declare open the first meeting of the second session of the 14th state assembly on April 16 at 10am.
He advised motorists to plan their journey on that day as Jalan Panglima Bukit Gantang Wahab, where the State Secretariat building is located, would be closed to traffic from 8am to 10am that day in conjunction with the opening of the assembly.
