KUALA LUMPUR: Two Barisan Nasional (BN) lawmakers were expelled from the Dewan Rakyat today over their disruptive demand for an apology from a PH lawmaker over the temporary barring of a BN MP from attending proceedings last week.
Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin (BN-Umno-Kinabatangan) and Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman (BN-Umno-Pasir Salak) were given the marching orders by Deputy Speaker Datuk Mohd Rashid Hasnon.
Rashid further ruled that the two lawmakers be suspended from Dewan Rakyat proceedings for a day, over their constant interruption of Chan Ming Kai (PH-PKR-Alor Setar), who was trying to debate the Income Tax (Amendment) Bill 2018.
The order was the culmination of 25 minutes of chaos in Parliament since 2.30pm this afternoon, which was triggered by the two BN MPs’ incessant demand for RSN Rayer (PH-DAP-Jelutong) to apologise over the latter’s role in the temporary barring of Datuk C. Sivarraajh (BN-MIC-Cameron Highlands) on Wednesday and Thursday last week.
On Wednesday, Speaker Datuk Mohamad Ariff Md Yusoff ordered Sivarraajh to leave the Dewan Rakyat to seek clarification from a lawyer on his status as MP following a Nov 30 Election Court decision that BN’s victory at the constituency in the 14th General Elections was invalid.
On that day Rayer had raised the issue of whether Sivarraajh had the right to participate in Dewan Rakyat proceedings due to the Election Court ruling.
This afternoon, the situation began to heat up when Sivarraajh - having earlier today been allowed to return to proceedings by Ariff - expressed his thanks for being permitted to come back while stating that the Speaker had been mistaken.
Rayer then stood up and declared that Ariff has not made any mistake in the ruling, further challenging Sivarraajh over the matter.
“Jelutong (Rayer) must apologise,” Bung loudly said in coming to Sivarraajh’s corner, which further attracted support from the opposition, especially Tajuddin.
“This matter must be settled first. As long as it is not settled (demand for Rayer to apologise), we cannot continue with the debate. I demand Jelutong to retract his statement (on Wednesday) and apologise.
The resulting verbal clashes between PH and opposition MPs was such that Rashid had to repeatedly resort to muting the microphones of MPs to try defuse the situation.
However, Tajuddin and Bung kept trying to demand for Rayer to apologise, triggering the fracas further anew each time, leading to Rashid repeatedly muting the microphones over the duration of 25 minutes.
Having had enough with his warnings to behave being ignored by 2.55pm, Rashid ordered the ushers to escort Bung and Tajuddin out of Parliament.
Acting as one, the opposition BN lawmakers also staged a walked out in solidarity with their two BN comrades.
As they shuffled out, Datuk Datuk Abdul Rahman Mohamad (BN-Umno-Lipis) could be heard loudly declaring that “We are all walking out. This Dewan (Rakyat) is unfair.”
After silence settled on the proceedings, Pang Hok Liong (PH-DAP-Labis) asked how long the two BN MPs would be suspended from Parliament.
“I impose a one-day suspension (from Dewan Rakyat),” Rashid replied.
However, at least one other MP, Khairy Jamaluddin (BN-Umno-Rembau) was still seen taking part in debates in the Dewan Rakyat.
