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Thursday May 29, 2008 MYT 5:46:21 PM

Speaker says he will resign if he can’t handle the challenge

By SIM LEOI LEOI


KUALA LUMPUR: Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia says he will resign when he cannot take it anymore.

"I keep telling myself if I can't take it anymore, handle the challenge or control my temper in Dewan, I will go up to the person who appointed me and tell him that I'm resigning.

"I will tell him that it's affecting my health," he told reporters Thursday after receiving a courtesy call from Iraqi Embassy charge d'affaires Hoshiar Dazay at his office here.

Pandikar Amin said although his health was good and in top condition, his family had a history of heart attacks.

"My cholesterol level is a bit high as well. At the moment, however, this is still under control and I can still tolerate the goings-on in Dewan," he said.

Pandikar Amin said he tried to forecast events in Dewan before the day even began as a way of controlling his temper.

"But sometimes, events get out of hand. Now, my tactic is to switch their microphone off until the MPs have finished shouting at each other," he said.

Since the new Parliament sitting began on April 28, both Pandikar Amin and his deputies had been forced to impose control on a sometimes rowdy House during this meeting, which for the first time, only had a simple majority for the Barisan Nasional government.

Asked if he had enjoyed his post so far, he said that "some people like contact sports like boxing although it hurts.

"I took up this job because I thought I wanted to put into practice all my experience as a politician. I have been a minister, a backbencher and an assembly speaker.

"However, for this Parliament, I will try my best to ensure no MP is ever kicked out," he said, adding that there were however several who were testing his patience.

Too many MPs, he added, were also resorting to the emergency motions under Standing Order 18(1) to ask for a debate on matters relating to individuals, such as that related to a person who was injured during a commotion in Bandar Mahkota Cheras.

"I have not allowed many such motions because it would open the floodgates in the future," he said, adding that many of these were also done for "political mileage". "My opinion is that if the television broadcast is extended to the full sitting, MPs will behave better because they will no longer be too self-conscious," he said.

Pandikar Amin also confessed that the sitting on April 30 was "beyond his imagination" but that since then, he had seen a lot of improvement, particularly among the first-term MPs.

But in the next meeting, scheduled for June 23, he said he would like to see MPs leaving their political agenda behind when entering Dewan.

"This is not unrealistic because this is practised in the English Parliament. It's a place to debate and pass laws," he said.

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