Speaker: Why I rejected emergency motions

Pandikar Amin Mulia justifies decisions to throw out emergency motions filed by parliamentarians.

KUALA LUMPUR: House Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia today went to great lengths to justify his decisions to reject a number of emergency motions filed in Parliament.

“Many of the emergency motions evoked under Standing Order 18(1), were not urgent. There have been 10 such motions filed in the current session since it began on June 13.

“I’ve read up on the parliamentary procedures in Britain and found that emergency motions in that system are hardly allowed in the House,” said Pandikar.

“In the three years I have been Speaker, I have allowed five emergency motions. That means, in comparison (to the British system), I’m not doing so badly.”

Pandikar gave an almost 20-minute speech on the matter when he rejected an emergency motion by Kubang Kerian MP, Salahuddin Ayub on hackers.

Last week, at least 41 government websites were crippled in a cyber-attack by an anonymous group in retaliation against Malaysia’s decision to block file-sharing sites.

“When motions are rejected, there will be media coverage. It creates an impression in the eyes of the public that my deputies and I are rejecting the motions arbitrarily,” he said.

He reminded MPs that the motions to be raised under Standing Order 18(1) have to be of utmost importance for him to disrupt scheduled proceedings.

Pandikar appealed to MPs not to add pressure on him and his deputies with more emergency motions and also announcing it to the media before it was even discussed in the House.

He added that the government and opposition veep must find a way to discuss matters that are of common interest instead of bringing them up separately through emergency motions.