KUALA LUMPUR: “Come what may, I shall protect this House,” says Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul as he reminds lawmakers not to insult the sanctity of the Speaker’s post.
“Whatever you say here, do not insult the Speaker. Johari Abdul is a different thing altogether,” he said, adding that he did not care about what others say of him.
“I do not mind if it is (about) Johari Abdul. But while I sit here, I sit as a Speaker and I have to protect this House.”
“That is my mission and that was the oath I have taken,” he told the Dewan Rakyat on Monday (Dec 9).
He was responding to several lawmakers who demanded his explanation for Pendang MP Datuk Awang Solahuddin Hashim’s ten-day suspension starting Dec 6 for insulting the Speaker.
Johari explained that despite being given several chances on different occasions to apologise, Awang did not do so.
Johari said he had written a letter to Awang, asking him to apologise instead of being referred to the rights and privileges committee. He had even sent an emissary to meet him but Awang was not present.
“If that isn’t tantamount to challenging the Speaker’s authority, then what does it mean?” he said.
“He has committed a wrongdoing which insults the House,” he added.
Perikatan Nasional leaders have claimed the Speaker overstepped his authority in suspending the Pendang MP from the lower House last week.
Perikatan Nasional whip Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan said the Speaker only had authority over proceedings inside the Dewan Rakyat and not outside.
“Outside the House, there are other laws where the authorities can investigate but here, it is the Standing Order,” he told a press conference at the Parliament media centre on Monday (Dec 9).
Takiyuddin also referred to Johari’s statement last year saying he is open to criticism as long as it is done outside the House, following criticism by Opposition leader Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin.
He also labelled Johari as the “government’s speaker and not the Dewan Rakyat”.
Several opposition MPs including Datuk Seri Ronald Kiandee (PN-Beluran) and Opposition chief Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin (PN-Larut) also spoke out against the decision.
Hamzah called the ruling poorly made and should not be made into a convention.
“There is always a remedy. We can always make a police report or civil action if it involves a non-MP. And the same goes for an MP who had done it outside of the House, we can file a motion or take civil action,” he said.
Kiandee argued that the Speaker had used the wrong standing order when making the decision to suspend Awang.
“For Pendang’s case, it happened outside the House but the Speaker invoked the standing order for something that (should have) happened inside the House.
“The Speaker’s actions were outside of his boundaries,” he said.
