THE Sarawak assembly dismissed a DAP assemblyman’s motion seeking the state government to disclose to the legislature the terms of settlement it has with Petronas to end the state sales tax on petroleum product dispute.

Speaker Mohd Asfia Awang Nassar, in dismissing Irene Chang’s (DAP-Bukit Assek) motion, said the motion violated the assembly’s Standing Order 20(2)(e) where “every question shall not refer to proceedings in a committee which have not been reported to the state assembly”.

Referring to a precedent in British parliamentary practices, Asfia also said “a report of a select committee may not be made publicly available until it is available to members of the House”.

Chang is a member of the bipartisan consultative committee, formed by the state assembly on November 6, 2018, to guide the state government on the implementation of the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).

Chaired by Asfia, the committee on June 10 met to discuss a joint statement by law assistant minister Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali and former Petronas chairman Ahmad Nizam Salleh on June 8.

The committee, however, unanimously concluded that the statement was not signed by the assistant minister and was not tantamount to a formal agreement.

The committee also has yet to receive any report from the state government on the matter.

Chang said since the state government neither revoked nor withdrew the statement and the appeal and cross appeal were withdrawn on terms that were not disclosed, it is in the public’s interest that a full disclosure of the agreed terms be made.

Asfia said even by practice, select committees often supply advanced copies of their reports to government departments, witnesses, lobby journalists and other media representatives as the committee thinks fit.

He added such copies are supplied under embargo until a specified time and date.

“Therefore the matter discussed in the select committee shall not be referred to in this motion and be deliberated upon and debated until the report is made available to the honourable members and discussed among the members of the consultative committee.

“Only then the matter can be made public and deliberated in the assembly.”

Asfia, however, used his powers under Standing Order 32(11) which states that “if the speaker is of the opinion that any motion or amendment or the continuance of the debate thereon is calculated to give rise to breaches of this Standing Order, he may disallow the motion or amendment.” – November 10, 2020.