I have never suggested that Oktoberfest be made a national holiday when I asked whether the PAS position on Oktoberfest is now the Ismail Sabri government position

I have never suggested that Oktoberfest be made a national holiday when I asked whether the PAS position on Oktoberfest is now the Ismail Sabri government position.

A website, Malaysia Today, carried my statement on the Oktoberfest with the heading: “Oktoberfest Should Be Declared A National Holiday”

This is a most mischievous and irresponsible heading as I had not made such a call in my statement which was carried in the body of the article.

I had given notice to ask the Prime Minister, Ismail Sabri, a Ministerial question in Parliament yesterday whether the position on the Oktoberfest as given by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Idris Ahmad in Parliament last month was the Ismail Sabri government’s official position, and if so, when the Cabinet took the decision.

The question for Ismail Sabri’s answer during Ministerial question time yesterday read:

“Tuan Lim Kit Siang minta Perdana Menteri menyatakan samada pendirian Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri (Hal Ehwal Agama) mengenai Oktoberfest di Malaysia merupakan keputusan rasmi Kabinet dan jika ya, bilakah keputusan ini diambil.”

Unfortunately, the question was rejected as it did not make it to the three Ministerial questions slotted yesterday.

I had said on Monday that the Ismail Sabri government would be violating the nation-building principles and policies of the nation’s founding fathers as enunciated in the Malaysian Constitution and Rukun Negara if it t is now opposed to Ocktoberfest and calling for its ban.

For 65 years, the government had not banned Oktoberfest.

Is Ismail Sabri’s “Keluarga Malaysia” campaign to be equated with a ban on Oktoberfest?

Bapa Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman, the second Prime Minister Tun Razak and the third Prime Minister, Tun Hussein Onn would be utterly shocked at such fundamental betrayals as the ban on Oktoberfest if they are alive today.

Malaysians are entitled to know when did the Cabinet take the position that the government is opposed to Oktoberfest and that it should be banned?

Idris Ahmad had played dumb to my questions since Monday.

I had hoped that Ismail Sabri will not play truant but will personally attend Parliament yesterday to state his government’s official position on Oktoberfest.

I had wanted to ask Ismail Sabri whether he was aware that in the Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) 2021, Malaysia was ranked No. 62 out of 180 countries surveyed – the lowest ranking for Malaysia since the annual TI CPI ranking started in 1995 – but all 61 countries which have better TI CPI than Malaysia allowed Oktoberfest in their countries, including Muslim countries like United Arab Emirates (ranked 24), Qatar (ranked 31), Saudi Arabia (ranked 55), Oman (ranked 56) and Jordan (ranked 60).

This was not to be as the parliamentary question was not slotted, but the question remains as to whether the Ismail Sabri government has accepted the PAS position on Oktoberfest and that it should be banned in Malaysia, and if so, when the Ismail Sabri Cabinet t took the decisions.

Or are we having a situation where the Ismail Sabri government dare not declare its position on Oktoberfest?