BN Cabinet loses to ‘vote of conscience’ in submarine motion

NOV 12 — The everlasting Barisan Nasional (BN) government appears to have lost its first vote in Parliament since it was first formed — which is some time in prehistory where all universal truths were first decided.
However, BN leaders were quick to deny that this was due to a loss-of-confidence in the coalition and merely an insignificant matter.
"After all, it was a motion tabled by one of our backbenchers, so it is still technically a win for BN," said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dubel Spik.
An emergency motion was brought by Datuk Mohd Jinie Shufel (BN-Setia) to allow all MPs to take joyrides in Malaysia's first submarine and after a two-hour debate, it was passed 45-25 in a vote at 9pm.
This came the day after Defence Minister Datuk Seri Amdan Hamid Zabidi told the House in reply to Mohd Jinie that members would not be allowed to take free rides in the first of two Scorpenes purchased in a RM3.4 billion deal.
"After Perimekar was given a free ride commission of RM534.8 million to get the deal through, it is only right that all Malaysians also enjoy a free ride in the submarine that was bought with their tax money. As representatives of the rakyat, I propose that all 222 MPs be allowed to use the submarine on a time-share basis," Mohd Jinie had said when tabling the motion.
The poor turnout for the vote was probably due to the late hour of the motion, as most MPs hold to the tradition of "not giving a toss" once the clock strikes 6pm.
However, 20 Pakatan Rakyat (PR) MPs joined 24 BN backbenchers in supporting the motion, against 24 members of Dubel's Cabinet.
Surprisingly, it was Umno Youth chief Harris Kamaluddin (BN-Rembat) who had voted against the motion. Having been denied a Cabinet portfolio by Dubel after becoming Umno Youth chief, it was expected that Harris would be a prominent backbencher in criticising the government.
"What is the point of using the submarine? It is much faster to fly wherever we need to go. Since BN MPs are willing to share their private jets, that is the best way to go about with our work," he explained to the press later, appearing to refer to Sarawak tycoon Datuk Seri Tong King Kong (BN-Pintulu).
But the most senior opposition member in the House tonight, Yasmin Zaidi (PKR-Gempak), insisted that MPs must be allowed to see for themselves whether or not the submarines were value for money.
"It is a vote of conscience across the floor, instead of partisan politics. We need to be able to know what our constituents are doing. Whenever we visit, they behave differently because they know the wakil rakyat is there. With the submarine, we can spy on them by hiding in the monsoon drain or Pak Haji Abu's big pot of sup tulang," he added.
Yet the most surprising vote was Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Maidin Thaksin, who voted in support of the motion, as opposed to the other Cabinet members present.
He refused to speak to the press later, but a source close to the DPM said that he was frankly, confused as to which side was actually a vote in support of the BN government.
Yesterday, Amdan had promised that he would "try to arrange for MPs to be allowed to enter the submarine but I cannot promise that they will be taken for an underwater sight-seeing because it’s going to be quite a tough ride."
But clearly, this was not going to be a welcome compromise for MPs. As independent Katak Mas MP Datuk Brahim Sawi said: "For us as Malay MPs to defend the sovereignty of Malays, we must know how to operate and launch nuclear missiles from these subs, so as to be able to fend off any threat to our Malay land, be it from China, Thailand, or other Malays from Indonesia."
He also insisted that it did not matter that the diesel-powered Scorpene would logically not have nuclear missiles as that was questioning Malay supremacy.
It is understood that both Dubel, and his archrival, Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Antoine Berahi, are falling over themselves preparing for the next step. Dubel's aides told The Malaysian Insider that the premier is unsure as to whether to smack Mohd Jinie around for proposing the motion in the first place, or to summon the backbenchers and ask why they supported it, instead of isolating Mohd Jinie.
Antoine believes that now is the time to draft in as many defectors as possible, with promises of more than just free submarine rides, but also free tickets to become space tourists, an opportunity he may be able to leverage due to alleged close links to Zionists in the White House, Pentagon and Nasa.