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Fadzil
to make Parliament debut - 20 years later
KUALA LUMPUR, Wed. - Pas president Datuk Fadzil Noor will finally make his debut in Parliament after a 20-year wait. The wait will be well worth it as he is is expected to be appointed the Opposition leader. He will be taking over from DAP secretary-general Lim Kit Siang. Lim has held the post since 1978. Lim failed to secure a seat this time around when he lost in Bukit Bendera. The post of Opposition leader is usually held by the head of an opposition party with the most number of MPs in the Dewan Rakyat. Pas is now the leading opposition party. Pas has 27 MPs followed by the DAP with 10, Parti Keadilan Nasional (five) and Parti Bersatu Sabah (three). The post of Opposition leader is provided for in the Federal Constitution. Besides an office in Parliament House, the incumbent will also receive a RM2,000 monthly allowance. The person will also sit in the Select Committee. The Select Committee appoints MPs into the various sub-committees. The only time the candidate for Opposition leader became an issue was in 1995. In that year, the Angkatan Perpaduan Ummah (comprising Pas, Parti Melayu Semangat 46, Berjasa and Hamim) wanted its representative to replace Lim. APU argued that the post should be given to one of their MPs as it had the most number of seats - seven by Pas and six by S46 - compared with DAP which only won nine. But former S46 president Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah declined the nomination. The post was retained by Lim when it was put to a vote among the Opposition MPs. Fadzil first contested in a Parliamentry constituency in the 1978 general election when he lost in Kuala Kedah to Datuk Senu Abdul Rahman of Barisan Nasional by 879 votes. He tried again in 1982 for the Ulu Muda constituency but lost to Hashim Endut of BN by a 3,500 vote majority. He, however, won the Bukit Raya State seat that year. In 1986, he lost to Datuk Mohamed Abu Bakar Rautin Ibrahim of the BN in the Kuala Kedah parliamentary seat and to Othman Abdul for the Pendang parliamentary seat in the 1990 general election. Unperturbed with the defeat, Fadzil contested for the Kuala Kedah parliamentary seat in the 1995 general election but lost to Zakaria Said of BN by 2,986 votes. Last Monday, it was his turn to defeat Othman. |
