Fong gestures during the press conference.
KUCHING: Elected representatives should not be allowed to make allegations against others inside the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) Chamber and then hide behind parliamentary privilege.
This is because there is no remedy for the aggrieved persons, State Legal Counsel Dato Sri JC Fong told a press conference.
Fong said he mulled calling on DUN members to submit a petition under Standing Order 16 to take appropriate action against Pending assemblywoman Violet Yong for breach of privilege and impose penalties on her.
This followed Yong’s failure to meet with Fong in the DUN cafeteria yesterday, waiving her immunity on her own accord and repeating in full the allegations she made against him in the DUN Chamber on Nov 6 when debating the 2020 Sarawak Budget.
He said Yong’s allegations in the DUN Chamber may have been expunged, but they had already been uttered and promoted outside the DUN.
“She was bold in making the false and defamatory allegations against me inside the DUN Chamber because she knew that whatever was uttered by her, she was protected by parliamentary privilege and I cannot sue her for defamation,” he said.
“In a way she is abusing parliamentary privilege to run down people and then avoid facing them like she is avoiding today’s (yesterday’s) event. Nevertheless, I want to take this stand because we should not allow our MPs and DUN members to abuse their privilege to run people down.
“If she had come today (yesterday), waived her immunity and repeated what she said in the DUN, then I can take the matter to court tomorrow or Monday and let the court decide. But why is she afraid? You can say that our assumption is a very strong one – that what she said (in the DUN Chamber) was not true.
“One day she can be accusing you of murder but what can you do because whatever she said in the DUN, she is immune – Article 72 of the State Constitution says so,” he said.
Fong added whether or not members of the august House agreed to take up the matter is out of his control.
On whether legal action could be taken on Yong’s debate speech, which went viral on social media, Fong said he would consult his legal team.
Fong said he did not want to be denied justice and would let an independent arbiter decide whether Yong was wrong in what she said in the DUN Chamber and whether he should have legal remedies.
He added Yong was sent a letter dated Nov 14, 2019 by email and WhatsApp inviting her to the DUN Cafeteria for the meeting at 3pm, adding although she did not respond to it, she should have been aware of its existence.
“For some reason, my letter went viral, and this challenge by me has been reported in several media outlets. So she must be aware of this afternoon’s event in the DUN Cafeteria.
“It is very regrettable that she chose not to come, to face you all and also to face me, although I assured her she would not be ambushed or harassed,” he said.