KUALA LUMPUR, 25 June 2009: DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang has submitted a motion to refer Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat to Parliament’s Privileges Committee.
“This is for misleading Parliament in his eight-minute ministerial statement on the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal on 22 June (2009),” Lim said in a press conference in Parliament today.
“The minister only referenced the cabinet decision on 2 Oct 2002, which approved the Port Klang Authority (PKA)’s decision to purchase 1,000 acres of land from the Selangor state government … but failed to reference and explain a contradicting decision by cabinet in a meeting on 23 Oct 2002, and in other related cabinet meetings,” read Lim’s motion, which was supplied to the media.
“This has made (Ong’s) statement neither comprehensive, fair nor transparent,” Lim’s motion continued.
The motion is a response to Ong’s statement, on 24 June 2009, that Lim “suppressed the truth” and misled Parliament.
This was when Lim interrupted Ong’s ministerial statement on 22 June 2009 to accuse him of not referring to a 23 Oct 2002 cabinet decision.
Lim had referred to the cabinet decision to acquire the 1,000 acres earmarked for PKFZ for RM10 per square foot (psf), instead of the final RM25 psf that was paid.
But Ong insisted that Lim also knew of a 6 Nov 2002 cabinet decision, which decided to revert to the RM25 psf valuation.
“As Ong also accused me of misleading Parliament, has he submitted a motion to refer me to the Privileges Committee?” Lim asked.
“Shall we jointly approach the Speaker to ask that both these motions of privilege be given top priority, so that they are debated next Monday (29 June), and that both motions be debated together?”
Lim also revealed that promised copies of the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) audit report and appendices on the PKFZ issue had not reached Members of Parliament (MPs).
“(Ong) has put up a great show … by claiming that 300 copies of (the report) have been seen to Parliament – but not a single MP, whether from Barisan Nasional (BN) or Pakatan Rakyat (PR) has received it.
On 22 June 2009, Ong explained that the copies had already been submitted to Parliament, and it was up to Parliamentary Secretary Datuk Roosme Hamzah to distribute them.
Lim challenged Ong to ensure that the PwC report and appendices be supplied to MPs by 29 June.
“I’m warning him, that unless the PwC report is tabled on Monday, he will face a series of public protests,” Lim said.
However, Lim declined to reveal more about these possible public protests. 
