Confirmed: Kit Siang suspended for 6 months

Dewan Rakyat speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia says Lim should be ashamed of his suspension.

KUALA LUMPUR: Dewan Rakyat Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia has confirmed that Gelang Patah MP Lim Kit Siang has indeed been suspended for six months from yesterday.

Doubts were raised over the opposition leader’s suspension as the motion to suspend Lim was not read out in Parliament.

Lim had also remained in the house for the entire session yesterday and continued to be in Parliament today.

“I’ve already given the orders yesterday. If an MP has any ethics, he would be ashamed by this.

“Just now, I told the house that this is their house and it was up to them, so if he sits there, I can turn a blind eye.

“This means he can participate in the debate but I will not see it. That means he can’t actually participate because I didn’t see it,” he said when met on the sidelines of an event held in Parliament.

Pandikar, however, said it was not him that ordered Lim to leave the house.

“The ones that brought the order was the minister; so it depends on the MP.

“If he refuses, he is disrespecting the house, not me,” Pandikar said, reiterating that Lim would not be allowed to participate in the debate.

Pandikar said he had decided to ignore Lim since the veteran MP had refused to leave the house and there was no point pressing the issue.

Yesterday, Lim had stood up to question the legality of the constituency redelineation report that had been tabled, saying there were pending cases regarding the matter in court.

Pandikar, however, insisted that the Dewan Rakyat had the jurisdiction to decide on the motion.

He was subsequently interrupted by Lim. After repeatedly telling Lim to sit down, Pandikar ordered him to leave, but the DAP veteran refused.

The house then adjourned. Later, Lim was seen entering the house and remained there until the end of the session and he turned up for today’s session as well.

Lim claimed there was no motion passed on his suspension and that his suspension was in limbo.

Opposition MPs argued that since there was no motion passed, Lim had the right to be in the house, debate and vote on motions.

When asked on the issue, a DAP MP said the speaker had not fully enforced Lim’s suspension as he was worried that it would stoke hatred towards the ruling government and affect its chances in the upcoming 14th general election. -FMT