Debate Speech by DAP ADUN for Kampung Tunku Lau Weng San on the Amendment Bill for Administration and Members of Legislative Assembly (Remuneration) (Amendment) Enactment 2013 on 27 November 2013 at Dewan Negeri Selangor, Shah Alam:
1. Kampung Tunku supports this amendment bill.
2. The duties and responsibilities as a representative of Selangor people is getting heavier after the 13th General Elections and this has became the common knowledge. Members of the Legislative Assembly not only have to do site-visit in their respective areas to solve problems and issues regularly, but also have to play an active role in the Selangor State Assembly.
3. Debate in the House is also getting heavier. Yesterday, members of Selangor Legislative Assembly (ADN) actively participated in the committee stage debate of the 2014 Budget.
4. ADNs have actively participated in this debate which has lasted for two days. Normally, ADNs will actively debate a budget at policy stage, but now we are not only active at policy stage but also during committee stage.
5. This indicates that hardwork that ADNs have put in to resolve problems of their constituents. Besides that, they do not neglect their responsibilities to debate each item in Budget 2014 which has been entrusted to them.
6. Even the performance of Menteri Besar also quite impressive yesterday when he stood up and sat no less than 100 times started from Q and A session to answer the questions and issues raised by ADN until the assembly was adjourned.
7. Therefore, I want to touch on the issue of to increase more remuneration for Menteri Besar, EXCO, the Speaker and Deputy Speaker because remuneration to them has been suppressed to a very low level for a very long period.
8. So, it is the time to raise their remuneration as suggested in this amendment bill.
9. For Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, he will receive a basic salary of approximately RM39,000 as the Menteri Besar of Selangor. This salary is deserved by him due to his contribution to the development of Selangor. One good example is he has successfully collected the debt from Syarikat Talam as much as RM3.92 billion for Selangor a couple of years ago.
10. This August House will later debate seven reports tabled by several Select Committee which was set up by the Selangor State Assembly in July.
11. These Select Committees have been meeting regularly and tirelessly to produce the statements following many hearings and investigations carried out on behalf of the Executive within a period of less than six months.
12. Who is leading these Select Committees? Of course the ADN themselves. This means that they are not sleeping on their jobs.
13. The adjustment of ADN and administrative members remuneration should also be seen as overall, the increase of the allowance for Opposition Leader and the increase in remuneration is to ensure ADN able to carry out their responsibilities smoothly without thinking too much about the "sources of income" as what happened during the reign of Barisan Nasional (BN).
14. The purpose of the remuneration adjustment is to ensure that ADN will always focus on their work and not have to worry about retirement life and his family members even after retirement.
15. There was a MCA assemblyman from Perak who suffered from stroke after retirement. He was so sicked that he had to walk withi his walking stick to personally appeal to the Perak state government not to deduct his housing mortgage from his pension as he will be left with no financial support to for medical treatment. I also urge that the government should also review the salaries of our councilors and village heads as they are also part of our service team and their salaries are also kept in an extremely low level for quite some time already.
To abrogate the position of EXCO Assistant
16. I also want to recommend to the Executive to reconsider whether the position of Pembantu EXCO should be retained.
17. This is because this position is in conflict with the principle of separation of powers. Secondly, after the adjustment of remuneration, ADNs will definitely have to work harder to monitor the state government. Certainly this position of Pembantu EXCO will be in conflict with his function as ADN to scrutinize the Executive.
18. Consequently, Kampung Tunku would like to request government to reconsider this position.
Thank you.
Lau Weng San
ADUN Kampung Tunku
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