PN’s Alor Setar MP, Afnan Hamimi Taib Azamudden, said the absence of foreign minister Zambry Abdul Kadir and his deputy, Mohamad Alamin, forced the speaker to move on with the agenda, bypassing the question to the ministry.

Afnan pointed out that the Dewan Rakyat Standing Orders stipulate that in the event the minister or deputy are absent in the House, a minister from another ministry can answer on their behalf.

“However, the minister in charge did not even delegate (answering the question) to another (minister). What is happening?

“Why is there no proper arrangement (to ensure questions are answered)? Is no one monitoring the attendance of ministers and deputy ministers to ensure questions are answered accordingly?” he said at a press conference at Parliament today.

Afnan claimed the poor attendance of ministers reflected Anwar’s inability to “control” and monitor the Dewan Rakyat attendance of his Cabinet members.

“These repeated occurrences show that the government of the day is not serious or competent in resolving the people’s issues that are raised in the Dewan Rakyat,” he said.

Last week, deputy local government development minister Akmal Nasir answered questions posed to the economy ministry by Batu Pahat MP Onn Abu Bakar.

Following that, PN’s Masjid Tanah MP, Mas Ermieyati Samsudin, expressed dissatisfaction with the failure by the health minister and her deputy to turn up.

The questions to the health ministry were answered by deputy entrepreneur and cooperatives development minister K Saraswathy instead.