Pandikar Amin re-elected Dewan Rakyat speaker

Pandikar Amin Mulia will reprise his role as Dewan Rakyat speaker after being re-elected to the post this morning, the first day of the first sitting of the 13th session of Parliament.

He was sworn in before the House after the vote was conducted by ‘letter ballot’, as is required under Standing Order 4(3) when more than one name is nominated.

Parliament secretary Rosmee Hamzah presided over the process.

Pandikar Amin, 60, won with 133 votes, defeating Pakatan Rakyat’s nominee, former federal court judge Abdul Kadir Sulaiman, who gained 89 votes.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak proposed Pandikar Amin, seconded by deputy premier Muhyiddin Yassin.

Bandar Tun Razak MP Abdul Khalid Ibrahim nominated Abdul Kadir, seconded by DAP's Bukit Gelugor MP Karpal Singh.

Chaos erupted when Pakatan Rakyat MPs raised their voices in protest during voting, complaining about the requirement to write their name on the letter ballot.

PAS’ Pokok Sena MP Mahfuz Omar, Tian Chua (PKR-Batu), Gobind Singh Deo (DAP-Puchong) and Mohd Hanipa Maidin (PAS-Sepang) demanded an explanation.

Holding up a copy of the Standing Order, Mohd Hanipa argued that Standing Order 4(4) only requires a member's signature, not the name to be on the letter ballot.

"We are bound by Standing Orders," he said.

Lim Lip Eng (DAP-Segambut,right) interjected, saying: "Our votes are not secret!"

The Pakatan protest was countered by the BN representatives.

"Just sit down, you are wasting time. What is the problem with writing down our names?" asked Bung Mokhtar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan).

Both sides then hurled 'witty' invectives at each other, forcing the secretary to turn off their microphones. The camera feeding the outside monitors panned the empty speaker's chair, avoiding the chaos in the House.

In a tweet, BN's Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar criticised Pakatan's outburst as a public relations stunt.

‘Pakatan suggests 'neutral' speaker in Parliament b/c they know they don't have numbers. Hence PR stunt. In Selangor, they picked YB Hannah,’ he posted.

He was arguing that a DAP representative - not someone neutral - had been appointed as speaker in the Pakatan-led Selangor state assembly.

'Time to Ubah'

Pandikar was sworn in after the votes were counted and the results announced by the secretary.

In a cleverly-worded acceptance speech, he used words commonly associated with BN and Pakatan rhetoric, and called for change toward a mature, better and responsible Parliament.

"Ini kalilah (let it be this time), ubah sekarang (change now), if not now when, if not us, who? Ini kalilah," he said with a straight face, to the consternation or laughter of all present.

"My robe has been though transformasi (transformed) to its new version, which is more comfortable than the last one, so will there be new ways of how Parliament is conducted?"

Pandikar also took a dig at Pakatan representatives, reminding them that their presence today is on invitation to elect the speaker.

He said they do not yet have the authority to object to anything under Standing Orders, as they have not yet taken their oath.

"Under Article 59(1) of the constitution, MPs do not have the right to voice any objection citing points of order, before taking the oath of office," he said.

Pandikar than presided over the House as, one by one, the 222 members left their seats and walked to a rostrum to take their oath of office and sign the book of oath, thereby officially taking on their responsibilities as lawmakers.