PUTRAJAYA, Nov 5 — Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon today described as baseless and untrue the allegation that he was only present in the Dewan Rakyat when Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak attended the sitting.

He had been attending the Dewan Rakyat every day since June, he said, adding that he would not be distracted by such allegations.

"My record is almost perfect except for one day. I was absent only one day. So, this allegation that I only came whenever the prime minister came is not true.

"The prime minister has endorsed not just to me but all his ministers. I think that is important," he told reporters after opening the Malaysian Government Open Source Software Conference 2009 at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC) here.

Last Thursday, Sri Gading MP Datuk Mohamad Aziz of the Barisan Nasional slammed Koh, saying that he was only present in the House when Najib attended and that Koh had failed his personal key performance indicator test.

Mohamad also said that Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat should quit the government as he had been rejected by his party members at an MCA extraordinary general meeting.

Koh said what was more important was that they were focusing on bringing transformation and improvement in the government for the people and he did not want to spend time engaging in unfruitful debates and quarrels or war of words.

On the allegation that he was not suited to be Gerakan president, he said he would not be judged by just a few but would be judged by the prime minister and the Cabinet.

"Whatever happened in the last general election, yes we lost, but in political life, we have lost people. Even Lim Kit Siang and Karpal Singh have lost many times," he said.

On tomorrow's special Cabinet sitting to be chaired by Najib and attended by all department heads, he said it would focus on the targets for the 2010 Budget. — Bernama