Parliament proceedings disrupted
The Star (30/4/08): Business got under way in the first proper sitting of Parliament on Wednesday.
In a fiery start, newly-appointed Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia had his hands full just trying to impose some semblance of sanity in a chaotic House, which for the first time, was almost equally divided between the Government and Opposition.
Two hours into the proceedings, the House had seen a succession of MPs - mainly from the Opposition block - standing up on the point of order on various issues, many Barisan MPs deemed “remeh” (trivial) ranging from the oath swearing ceremony to the sitting arrangement of Datuk Ibrahim Ali (Ind - Pasir Mas).
Pandikar Amin was - at various junctures - forced into cajoling the MPs to behave like “gentlemen and ladies” and get down to serious matters, only to be heckled by Gobind Singh Deo (DAP- Puchong) for “delaying” proceedings.
At one point, the Chair’s decision to disallow supplementary questions - for lack of time - saw the Opposition block erupt into protests, led by Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur) accusing Pandikar Amin of “making a mockery”of the House.
“This has never happened before in history. It’s the right of MPs to ask supplementary questions,” he said.
Luckily, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who was also present to take the first question and had been seen observing the proceedings with a smile, intervened to request to be fielded “one or two questions”.
At noon, the House was still bogged down in a wrangle of technical intepretations on various Standing Orders and house rules, and only three out of the 73 questions had managed to be even fielded.
Ironically, it was Azmin Ali (PKR-Gombak) who stood up at one point to ask the Chair for the Opposition to be given the opportunity to ask more questions as they had more members than the backbenchers.
Salahuddin Ayub (PAS-Kubang Kerian) even threw in a last minute attempt to move a motion to discuss the terms of an agreement between federal government and Terengganu on oil royalties, which was dismissed by Pandikar Amin.
The Government block was out in full force on Wednesday, with attendance by many senior ministers, including Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
The session was also being televised live for the first time. However, the Information Ministry is now reviewing this, on the grounds that some MPs were taking the opportunity to play to the gallery.
The situation only got back to normal 10 minutes into noon when Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting (BN - Kulai) finally delivered the motion of thanks on the Royal Address.
Earlier, Pandikar Amin had only got down to formally announcing Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (PKR - Permatang Pauh) as the Opposition Leader, when Karpal Singh (DAP-Bukit Gelugor) interupted to say that the swearing in of MPs on Monday had not been valid as the oath-taking had not been “properly administered” by the House secretary.
“The matter of swearing in has been completed. There are more important matters to be discussed,” he said to further protests by Karpal Singh.
This sparked a melee of objections and shouts of “points of order” from Opposition members. At one time, Pandikar Amin asked Datuk Bung Moktar Radin (BN - Kinabatangan), who was attempting to disrupt the Opposition’s argument, to “keep quiet”.
“When the Tun Yang di-Pertua is speaking, nobody can talk.
“What has been raised are all trivial and technical issues while there are more important questions to be answered,” Pandikar Amin pleaded, only to be drowned out.
Things turned ugly when Karpal Singh called Bung Moktar the “Bigfoot from Kinabatangan” and for which he was called “big monkey” in return.
Later, the two men shook hands outside Dewan.
In a fiery start, newly-appointed Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia had his hands full just trying to impose some semblance of sanity in a chaotic House, which for the first time, was almost equally divided between the Government and Opposition.
Two hours into the proceedings, the House had seen a succession of MPs - mainly from the Opposition block - standing up on the point of order on various issues, many Barisan MPs deemed “remeh” (trivial) ranging from the oath swearing ceremony to the sitting arrangement of Datuk Ibrahim Ali (Ind - Pasir Mas).
Pandikar Amin was - at various junctures - forced into cajoling the MPs to behave like “gentlemen and ladies” and get down to serious matters, only to be heckled by Gobind Singh Deo (DAP- Puchong) for “delaying” proceedings.
At one point, the Chair’s decision to disallow supplementary questions - for lack of time - saw the Opposition block erupt into protests, led by Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur) accusing Pandikar Amin of “making a mockery”of the House.
“This has never happened before in history. It’s the right of MPs to ask supplementary questions,” he said.
Luckily, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who was also present to take the first question and had been seen observing the proceedings with a smile, intervened to request to be fielded “one or two questions”.
At noon, the House was still bogged down in a wrangle of technical intepretations on various Standing Orders and house rules, and only three out of the 73 questions had managed to be even fielded.
Ironically, it was Azmin Ali (PKR-Gombak) who stood up at one point to ask the Chair for the Opposition to be given the opportunity to ask more questions as they had more members than the backbenchers.
Salahuddin Ayub (PAS-Kubang Kerian) even threw in a last minute attempt to move a motion to discuss the terms of an agreement between federal government and Terengganu on oil royalties, which was dismissed by Pandikar Amin.
The Government block was out in full force on Wednesday, with attendance by many senior ministers, including Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
The session was also being televised live for the first time. However, the Information Ministry is now reviewing this, on the grounds that some MPs were taking the opportunity to play to the gallery.
The situation only got back to normal 10 minutes into noon when Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting (BN - Kulai) finally delivered the motion of thanks on the Royal Address.
Earlier, Pandikar Amin had only got down to formally announcing Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (PKR - Permatang Pauh) as the Opposition Leader, when Karpal Singh (DAP-Bukit Gelugor) interupted to say that the swearing in of MPs on Monday had not been valid as the oath-taking had not been “properly administered” by the House secretary.
“The matter of swearing in has been completed. There are more important matters to be discussed,” he said to further protests by Karpal Singh.
This sparked a melee of objections and shouts of “points of order” from Opposition members. At one time, Pandikar Amin asked Datuk Bung Moktar Radin (BN - Kinabatangan), who was attempting to disrupt the Opposition’s argument, to “keep quiet”.
“When the Tun Yang di-Pertua is speaking, nobody can talk.
“What has been raised are all trivial and technical issues while there are more important questions to be answered,” Pandikar Amin pleaded, only to be drowned out.
Things turned ugly when Karpal Singh called Bung Moktar the “Bigfoot from Kinabatangan” and for which he was called “big monkey” in return.
Later, the two men shook hands outside Dewan.
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