Sunday July 5, 2009
Wish for a polite august House
By LEE YUK PENG
IF only Malaysian MPs could debate and behave like British MPs in the House of Commons.
That is the wish of Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia for the Dewan Rakyat.
He said he had read that British MPs had engaged in name-calling in the 1940s but did not do that any more because they had evolved.
Malaysian MPs, however, he noted, were still belittling each other by name-calling and the use of unparliamentary language.
Pandikar said this when he attended the launch of commemorative coins in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the Parliament of Malaysia at the banquet hall on the morning of the last day of the Dewan Rakyat meeting.
A war of words erupted between Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin (BN - Rembau) and the Opposition over the motion to fine four Umno Youth division leaders who had blocked the wheel-chair-bound Karpal Singh (DAP - Bukit Gelugor) from entering Parliament House on Feb 26.
During the debate, Karpal was ejected from the chamber for calling Khairy “Rembau corrupt” despite repeated reminders to desist.
When Khairy called Lim Kit Siang (DAP - Ipoh Timur) a “Jurassic”, Lim, not to be outdone, showered Khairy with labels of being the “richest unemployed” person, a “rabid racist”, a “Mat Rempit” and told him to go back to Oxford University.
Maintaining that the actions of the four were not premeditated, Khairy instead accused Karpal of being the cause for the incident as he had called Umno Youth “celaka” in the House previously.
Tian Chua (PKR - Batu) noted that Khairy showed no remorse despite the recommendation by the Parliamentary Select Committee to fine the four and Dr Dzulkifly Ahmad (PAS - Kuala Selangor) reminded Khairy that Umno Youth had demonstrated outside Karpal’s house first.
At one point, Agriculture and Agro-based Minister Datuk Noh Omar shouted “bodoh!” at the Opposition benches.
He refused to retract the word, saying it was not meant for anyone in particular.
This prompted Pandikar to remind all who were still debating despite the select committee’s recommendations to search their soul.
He told Khairy to keep to the House rules and also reminded Datuk Idris Haron (BN - Tangga Batu) not to add fuel to the fire.
The episode ended with the four Umno Youth members being called into the House to hear Pandikar read out the recommendations of the committee while the Opposition MPs staged a walkout when eight of them were admonished. This was the second caution issued by a parliamentary committee in 50 years of the Parliament’s history.
This time, three were admonished for not sitting as panel members of the Select Committee and five for not showing up as witnesses during an inquiry.
On the same day Pakatan Rakyat announced it was forming parliamentary committees to track the 25 ministries in a bid to have better parliamentary debates with them.
Two important bills were passed last week – the Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission Bill and the Malaysia Human Rights Commission (Amendment) (Amendment) Bill.
A few Opposition MPs filed motions to amend the bills; Fong Po Kuan (DAP - Batu Gajah) and first term MP Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj (PSM -Sungai Siput) scrutinised the bills clause by clause with Datuk Seri Nazri Abd Aziz at committee stage.
At the end of the day, however, all their proposals were shot down.
Current issues like the influenza A(HINI) made its way into the Dewan when Pandikar allowed an emergency motion filed by Dr Lee Boon Chye (PKR - Gopeng) to debate the matter last Tuesday. Backbenchers were also quick to comment on the news of Kedah DAP pulling out from the PAS-led state government.
The debate on the Suhakam Bill gave an insight into Nazri’s analysis of the Perak constitutional crisis.
“When the rakyat voted in March 2008, they did not vote for Pakatan Rakyat. There was no Pakatan Rakyat at that time.
“They were voting for Barisan Nasional and the opposition - PAS, DAP or others.
“Going by the number of seats, Barisan won the most number of seats then and should be the ruling coalition.
“Here you see them collecting signatures and meeting the (Perak) Sultan to form the state government. The people of Perak have never voted for Pakatan Rakyat.
“If you all have guts, register Pakatan Rakyat and contest under the Pakatan Rakyat ticket!”
With regard to the conflict arising out of one spouse in a civil marriage converting to Islam, Nazri was upset with the delay in tabling several amendment bills which would haveshown the Government’s readiness to resolve the ensuing tussles for child custody and/or the body of a “converted” person whose family had no knowledge of the conversion.
The matter is now back with the respective state religious councils for more study.
The Dewan Rakyat adjourned sine die after three weeks. The next meeting is scheduled for Oct 19 and the Budget is expected to be tabled on Oct 23.
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