The DAP’s Bukit Gelugor MP Karpal Singh has been suspended from parliament for 10 days after calling Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia a “dictator.”
Karpal was forcibly ejected by Pandikar. The Sergeant at Arms wheeled the veteran opposition lawmaker out of the hall.
“I am using my power under standing order 44 (2). Bentara, please remove Bukit Gelugor,” Pandikar ordered after a row between him and opposition MPs over the APCO issue.
Earlier PKR’s Batu MP Tian Chua was disputing why his motion to have APCO’s contract to be terminated was rejected on the grounds that the matter has been given room for deliberation.
Karpal also joined in and pointed out that the Speaker had allowed Parliament last week to debate whether Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim face the Rights and Privileges Committee under standing orders 18 (2) after the Opposition Leader alleged that the government’s public relations consultants APCO Worldwide had Israeli links and were instrumental in formulating the 1 Malaysia slogan.
He stressed that the Speaker could not go against his own precedence.
“But according to the court of law, you cannot set another precedence. You have to follow the precedence,” Karpal said
Pandikar shot back that the House was “not a court of law”.
He then warned Karpal that he would be taking action if the veteran politician refused to cooperate.
Karpal continued his tirade and kept repeating,” You are a dictator, don't be a dictator!”
After Karpal was ejected from the House, Ipoh Timur MP Lim Kit Siang tabled a motion to refer Pasir Salak MP Datuk Tajuddin Abdul Rahman to the Rights and Privileges committee for misleading the parliament.
Tajuddin allegedly said that DAP leaders were selling state secrets to Hong Kong and Singapore.
Pandikar allowed the motion and called for a voice voting but the Pakatan Rakyat MPs were not satisfied.
The speaker then called for a bloc voting and the motion was defeated 56 to 82.
Later in a press conference, Karpal insisted in accusing the Speaker of being a dictator.
“Precedence has been set by the previous speakers, what happened today is an embarrassment to the House.
Maybe the Speaker has to rest after having surgery.
"This is because precedence has been set by the speaker himself and other deputy speakers. What happened today cannot happen again, the Speaker sat in his chair and became a dictator. That cannot be defended by Pakatan Rakyat,” he said.
Karpal added that Pandikar admitted he was a dictator by setting a new precedent.
“All these years whenever a motion which has been sent to the speaker for the purpose of tabling under standing 18 (2) on the matter of urgent public importance. When it has been rejected by letter, the MP concerned has the right to bring up the matter and ask the Speaker why the motion has been rejected.
“He has admitted by saying that he is setting a new precedence. What he is doing amounts to being a dictator.
I regret that I have been suspended for 10 days but as a matter of principle it has to be done,” Karpal said.
courtesy of Malaysian Insider
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