Apologise by 11:30am or face the boot, Kit Siang told

Minister Azalina Othman says that as a veteran parliamentarian, Lim Kit Siang should know the procedure in the Dewan Rakyat and abide by it.

KUALA LUMPUR: Gelang Patah MP Lim Kit Siang has until 11.30am today to apologise for hurling accusations at Dewan Rakyat Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia, failing which he will be booted out of Parliament.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Azalina Othman Said said that as a veteran parliamentarian, Lim should know the procedure in the Dewan Rakyat and abide by it.

“If I know there will be a motion presented about me, I would not leave the Dewan until the session has ended,” she told reporters at Parliament lobby this morning.

Azalina also said that since there were numerous ways in which Lim could contact the Speaker to offer his apologies, she saw no reason why Lim would chose to delay his decision instead.

“What Tan Sri Pandikar wants is for Lim to retract his statement and to apologise.

“But until now, no motion has been presented yet. For now, this issue is between the Speaker and Lim.

“The government will not get involved until the Speaker asks me to table the motion,” she added.

On Monday, Lim accused Pandikar of abusing his powers when he called for the Public Accounts Committee to suspend its investigation into 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) affairs following the appointment of its then chairman, Nur Jazlan Mohamed, as Deputy Home Minister in July.

The next day, Pandikar said he would give Lim the opportunity to apologise to him and retract his statement, failing which a motion will be tabled against the latter to suspend him from Parliament.

Yesterday afternoon, before Lim could give his explanation, Azalina announced to the media that the motion to suspend Lim was ready and would be tabled the same day.

This then led to several opposition MPs lashing out at Azalina for sending the motion before giving Lim a chance to explain himself.