Yong (seated right) and Chong on her right speaking to reporters during the press conference.
PENDING assemblywoman Violet Yong stands by her posting on her Facebook account on Tuesday (Nov 13) alleging that the Sarawak State Legislative (DUN) Speaker’s emolument for 2019 is RM5.947 million and says she does not mind to pay the fine of RM2,000 for contempt of the august House.
Following her refusal to publicly apologise and delete the Facebook posting that disparaged the DUN and Speaker, Yong was fined RM2,000.
“I believe that I am the first member of Dewan Undangan Negeri Sarawak that got punished under this Dewan Undangan Negeri (Privileges and Powers), Ordinance 2007, and of course I stand by what I posted in Facebook because what I posted is the information or detail and figures as produced by the Sarawak State Finance Office and as tabled in the Dewan Undangan Negeri.
“I believe and I stand by my stand that I commit no wrong and I am not bringing any disrepute to the Dewan or the Speaker by me bringing out the posting on my Facebook and this issue has been brought up in the Dewan Undangan Negeri today,” she told a press conference yesterday.
To back up her claims, Yong said the incident actually gave chance to the state government to give a full explanation on why the RM5.947 million came under the Head T.02 – Speaker of Dewan Undangan Negeri.
“But, very unfortunate our Second Finance Minister Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh, despite his answer in the Dewan Undangan Negeri, he did not dare to detail out the RM5.035 million. He only said that is for Speaker’s and Deputy Speaker’s allowances and members’ allowances for petrol, telephone and constituency allowances.
“But as to each category, there is no mention of the amount and the breakdown is not mentioned. I do not know why even though I kept on pressing that he should give us the breakdown of the allowances, he either ignored or just pretended he didn’t hear me,” said Yong.
Yong emphasised that as opposition in the Dewan Undangan Negeri, her role is to play check-and-balance role in Dewan Undangan Negeri and considering that there is no detailed explanation to the figure, “it is by law to bring it out.”
“I am quite disappointed over the minister’s explanation. I believed all the detailed breakdown would be furnished in this Dewan but apparently there wasn’t just now.
“But for the sake of the people to get that, we want to make sure that the money, the money of the taxpayers, are well spent and spent properly, I stand by what I said and I do not mind to pay the RM2,000,” she said.
However, Yong stressed that there is a need to improve the heading as written in the state budget document.
“This is constructive criticism. Next time, don’t put such bad heading. You can just add in the word ‘office’ of Dewan Undangan Negeri, then people will not be misled anymore. But here it says ‘Speaker of Dewan Undangan Negeri’. That itself, if you read it, refers to a person and not the office,” said Yong.
Meanwhile, Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen said the incident yesterday was “another incident of majority bullying the minority, which is the opposition.”
“There is nothing wrong for Violet to put on her Facebook that emolument as approved by the budget for the Speaker of DUN Sarawak amounted to RM5.947 million. What she did is the reproduction verbatim, word for word of the budget document.
“If we don’t read, don’t get document, don’t get information from budget document, so what is this document for. It is ridiculous.
“If Violet is to be faulted for posting wrong information, then the wrong is committed by the drafter of this budget document and Soon Koh being the Second Finance Minister and Abang Johari (Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg) as the Finance Minister should be equally responsible for the mistake,” he added.
“If the Speaker is so minded about the sanctity of the house, the good repute of the house, he should act more democratically.
“He should practise more democracy in this house. If anyone is bringing disrepute to the house, it is the Speaker himself who has disrepute and shamed this august House,” Chong stressed.