POLITICS: Fastest ejected MP in Dewan Rakyat history

Fastest ejected MP in Dewan Rakyat history

By : V. Vasudevan

DEWAN RAKYAT, Mon:

Former Perak menteri besar Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin made history today as the fastest ever to be thrown out of the Dewan Rakyat — about 10 minutes after he was sworn in as the member for Bukit Gantang.Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia ordered him off for two days for causing rowdy behaviour in the chamber.

Also shown the door for violating the House dress code were seven of Nizar’s Pakatan Rakyat colleagues. They, too, will be out till Wednesday.Immediately after taking the oath, Nizar tied a black headband around his songkok and shouted “hidup rakyat, bubar dewan!” while raising his left arm.It caught everyone by surprise including Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who was at his seat waiting to reply to two queries during Question Time.Pandikar Amin told Nizar to remove the headband at once. Nizar obliged but his former exco members in the Perak state government, Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham (DAP-Beruas) and Nga Kor Ming (DAP-Taiping), started shouting similar slogans, raising an uproar as angry backbenchers shouted back at the opposition.The two were ordered to leave after refusing to heed Pandikar Amin’s admonition to stop their unparliamentary conduct.

He also instructed Nizar, who had just taken his seat, to do the same. Nizar walked out without protest. Datuk Mahfuz Omar (Pas-Pokok Sena) was the next to be shown the exit when the shouting continued.Pandikar Amin then instructed opposition members wearing headbands and armbands with the words “Bubar Dun“ to remove them or be ejected by the chair.“You are expected to be attired properly in the Dewan. You cannot be dressed like this in the chamber,” he said.But N. Gobalakrishnan (PKR-Padang Serai), Dr Hatta Ramli (Pas-Kuala Krai), Dr Dzulkifli Ahmad (Pas-Kuala Selangor) refused to remove the headbands and armbands and were immediately told to leave.Khalid Samad (Pas-Shah Alam), Chong Cheing Jen (DAP-Kuching) and Teo Nie Cheng (DAP-Serdang) and Nurul Izzah Anwar (PKR-Lembah Pantai) walked out in solidarity with their Pakatan colleagues.Pandikar Amin refused to deliver the traditional welcoming speech to Nizar as a new member.“Traditionally after an MP is sworn in, the Speaker welcomes the new member, and in the welcoming speech, the Speaker will speak of his hope that the new member will be able to contribute to the House.“But this morning I find it difficult to say this. Look at the behaviour of the member who was a mentri besar. I don’t care how you behave outside the House, but inside the Parliament please watch your behaviour,” he said to much table-thumping from backbenchers.House security also cleared the lobby of anyone who sported the headbands and armbands calling for the Perak legislative assembly to be dissolved.

Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said he was puzzled why Pandikar Amin found the headbands and armbands offensive.“It can be done in other parliaments but not ours. Why is this so? It is the MPs’ right to wear these armbands to protest anywhere in Parliament,” he said.Later in the lobby, Pandikar Amin said Parliament was not a street market.“It caused a 20-minute delay. The headband is not allowed. We have to be dignified when in Parliament. You come in, you bow and address others as Yang Berhormat. When you leave you bow. This is not a market,” he said.In reply to Anwar, Pandikar Amin said: “If they want to do that, they can go to the other parliaments. Be parliamentarians there.” Stories courtesy of New Straits Times Press