The controversial Malacca state assembly sitting today saw some colourful behaviour from its members with one hurling the standing order book while another two exchanging insults of “babi” (pig) and “pengkhianat” (traitor).
It started at the very early beginning of the sitting at about 9.30am when former chief minister Idris Haron (Sungai Udang-Umno) got into a shouting match with the speaker of the House, Omar Jaafar, which also saw several other Pakatan Harapan representatives joining in.
At the background, two others – Norhizam Hassan Baktee (Pengkalan Batu-Independent) and Low Chee Leong (Kota Laksamana-DAP) – had another battle of their own, exchanging barrages of swear words and almost got physical.
In the first incident, Idris stood up when the assembly was about to start, stopping Omar short from initiating prayer recitation to mark the commencement of the sitting.
Holding a handbook in one hand, Idris told Omar that the latter no longer fit to be on the speaker’s seat.
He said that Harapan had lost the majority in the assembly and so did Omar. Idris then told the speaker to allow motions to vote in replacement for Omar and his deputy Dr Wong Fort Pin.
Based on videos made available to Malaysiakini, several other assemblypersons seated at the opposition then started joining in, shouting on top of their lungs.
It was not really clear what they were saying to each other, except that Omar was heard telling his critic to sit down.
“… When the speaker stands up, all others (should) sit down!” Omar was heard saying to Idris, to the cheers of opposition representatives.
Several Harapan assemblypersons were also heard telling Idris (photo) to respect Omar as the speaker, while others called for him to be kicked out of the sitting.
It is learnt that the argument ended with Idris throwing the state assembly’s standing order handbook towards Omar, who later ordered for the sitting to be postponed to another date, which is yet to be determined.
“I told the speaker that he was not fit to be in the sitting. I wanted to read the handbook but was not allowed by the speaker and the opposition members.
“At the end, when the situation was beyond his control, the speaker adjourned the sitting,” Idris said when met by reporters outside the assembly hall in Seri Negeri, Ayer Keroh.
He admitted that he had thrown the book towards Omar out of anger, but Idris said what he did was not insulting.
“Insult to the House? I say that the speaker had insulted the House even more, as he had rejected motions due to his conflict of interests.
“And their action of blocking me from bringing the motion is more insulting than what I did by throwing the book.”
Last week, it was reported that Omar had rejected four out of six motions proposed by new Chief Minister Sulaiman Md Ali, which seek to discuss the replacement of Omar and Wong in today’s sitting.
PN is seeking to remove the speaker and deputy speaker after they managed to secure the majority to form a new state government in March, thus seeing the fall of Harapan state administration which ruled since it secured victory in the 2018 general election.
Norhizam versus Low
Meanwhile, when Idris was arguing with the speaker, another verbal brawl happened between Norhizam and Low.
For context, it should be noted that the two had been having arguments since last month over political issues between them.
A one-minute video on Facebook shows the exchanges started with Norhizam and Low challenging each other to a physical fight.
This then turned into repeated exchanges of words where Norhizam was heard calling Low “babi“, while the latter returned the favour by calling Norhizam “pengkhianat“.
“Babi! Babi! Babi! Babi!” said Norhizam, pointing his finger at Low.
“Kau pengkhianat! (You’re a traitor),” replied Low.
It is believed that Low was referring to Norhizam’s decision to cross over from DAP to support PN, which led to the fall of Harapan state government.
Several other representatives were then seen trying to calm Norhizam down, before the video ended. – MKINI
Malacca State Assembly sitting chaotic over appointment of Speaker
MALACCA: The Malacca State Legislative Assembly sitting today turned chaotic following calls by Perikatan Nasional (PN) members led by Datuk Seri Idris Haron (BN-Sungai Udang) that Speaker Datuk Omar Jaafar be replaced with a PN member.
The one-day sitting which began at 9.30am saw heated exchanges between members of PN and Pakatan Harapan (PH).
Omar tried to calm the situation down by saying that he was still Speaker based on the ‘de facto’ principle, but Idris persisted on challenging Omar’s position and even threw the rule book at him.
This led Omar to adjourn the sitting at 10am to a date to be informed later before walking out of the sitting followed by 11 PH assemblymen.
However, the drama did not end there. At 10.45am, Bernama and RTM reporters were called into the hall to cover the sitting which now comprised 16 of the 28 assemblymen, all of whom are government supporters.
Idris who left the Assembly after Omar was not present during the sitting which was now left with only 16 assemblymen from the government.
Datuk Ghazale Muhamad (Barisan Nasional (BN)-Rim) who chaired the sitting appointed Malacca BN chairman Datuk Seri Ab Rauf Yusoh as the 14th Malacca State Assembly Speaker while Ghazale himself was Deputy Speaker.
AB Rauf was proposed by Chief Minister Datuk Sulaiman Md Ali (BN-Lendu) and seconded by Datuk Seri Abdul Ghafaar Atan (BN-Asahan) while Ghazale was proposed by Datuk Latipah Omar (BN-Taboh Naning) and supported by Datuk Roslan Ahmad (BN-Merlimau).
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters outside the sitting, Sulaiman said Ab Rauf’s appointment was within the law according to the provisions of the Malacca State Constitution.
He said under the provisions, the proposal for adjournment must be brought to the sitting before the Speaker can act to postpone it, but this did not happen.
“Although in the beginning, there was some chaos, but when we referred to the rules of the sitting, it allows us to continue sitting as there was no motion to adjourn it and he (Omar) just left the assembly, which means the Speaker was not present.
“Whenever there is a change in government, there must be and should be a change of the State Assembly Speaker and the Deputy Speaker, and this happens in any state,” he said.
He added that initially he accepted the Speaker’s decision to reject the motion to appoint a new speaker but a verbal motion could be brought to the assembly sitting as the choice of speaker must be made in the assembly sitting.
Meanwhile, the sitting chaired by Ab Rauf passed the motion to appoint MalaccaLiaison Body deputy chairman Datuk Seri Mohamad Ali Mohamad to the Senate to represent the state for three years.
The motion was proposed by Sulaiman and seconded by Datuk Noor Effandi Ahmad (Bersatu-Telok Mas), and agreed by 16 of the 28 assemblymen. — Bernama
MKINI / BERNAMA
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