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Najib should agree to a 48-hour postponement for the election of Speaker to withdraw Ramli’s nomination to submit a better, stronger and more qualified candidate for Parliament Speaker   Media Comment - after vistiing Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s Hari Raya Open House by Lim Kit Siang (Kuala Lumpur, Sunday): I am making a final call to the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to agree to a 48-hour postponement for the election of Sp4eaker of Parliament tomorrow, so as to withdraw the Cabinet’s nomination of Tan Sri Ramli Ngah Talib in order to submit a better, stronger and more qualified candidate for Parliament Speaker.  Ramli does not belong to the age of openness, accountability, transparency and good governance or the spirit of a national integrity system when he refused to respond to two requests, viz: To give a full accounting of the various allegations of scandals during his tenure as Perak Mentri Besar (as it would be most embarrassing if these scandals are raised when he is Speaker of Parliament), whether it be the Kampung Meru Tin-Jelapang Scandal,  the RM40 million Pasir Salak Historical Complex or others; and to spell out his  vision, ideas, commitment and passion for parliamentary reform and modernization to transform the Malaysian Parliament into a First-World Parliament.  There is no  shortage of suitable candidates for the post of Parliament Speaker, who should be able to give a better account of themselves to fit the bill of a Speaker for a reform legislature  to become a First-World Parliament in keeping with the national objective to become a fully-developed First-World nation under Vision 2020.  Among the present batch of MPs, names of more suitable candidates that come to mind will include Datuk Dr. Rais Yatim, Minister for Culture, Datuk Radzi Sheikh Ahmad, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Shahrir Samad,  Chairman of Barisan Backbenchers’ Club and Datuk Lim See Ching,  Deputy Speaker while outside Parliament, names that come to mind are Tan Sri Musa Hitam,  former Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Param Cumaraswamy, former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Tunku Aziz, former Vice President of Transparency International  and  Datuk Napsiah Omar, former Cabinet Minister.                      (21/11/2004) * Lim Kit Siang, Parliamentary Opposition Leader, MP for Ipoh Timur & DAP Central Policy and Strategic Planning Commission Chairman