There was a commotion in the Dewan Rakyat today after speaker Azhar Azizan Harun decided to amend the bloc vote results of the motion to extend the enforcement of a subsection of the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma) 2012.
He confirmed that Tajuddin Abdul Rahman (BN-Pasir Salak) returned to the Lower House to vote on the motion on July 20, despite having been served a two-day suspension by deputy speaker Rashid Hasnon earlier that day.
Azhar said he was unaware of Tajuddin’s suspension that day as he was attending a meeting when it happened. He added that he was also not informed by Rashid or his officers about the incident.
“Actually at that time (of voting), I was chairing the meeting but I was not informed about the suspension and I did not know about the suspension as I explained earlier.
“If I had known about this matter, of course, I would not have allowed Pasir Salak to enter the House to vote on the Home Minister’s motion,” Azhar (above) said.
He said he will use Standing Order 100 to amend the bloc vote results for the motion on July 20 to subtract the total of those voting in favour by one and increase the number of those absent by one.
“Whereas those (who voted) against (the motion) remains the same,” he said.
He was responding to Teo Nie Ching (Pakatan Harapan-Kulai) who previously urged the speaker to look into this matter.
After Azhar said this, Tajuddin began defending himself, with the lawmaker insisting he was not ejected from the Dewan Rakyat on July 20 and that he actually left of his own accord.
“This is the problem when you are too nice. I was not ordered to leave. I left voluntarily because I did not want the chaotic situation to keep going and, secondly, I had other duties outside.
“But that was interpreted as me having been ordered to leave. It is not true at all.
“But when the deputy speaker said after that that he had ordered me to leave, I was too lazy to say anything. I don’t want to waste time so whatever he said, I just kept quiet,” Tajuddin said.
Hence, he argued, his vote for the Sosma bill should remain but he still acquiesced to the speaker’s ruling.
Didn’t hear suspension order
Azhar replied that, based on his review of the incident, the situation at the time was chaotic and so he does not blame Tajuddin for not hearing Rashid’s suspension order.
A number of opposition MPs then questioned Azhar’s explanation, with Hannah Yeoh (Harapan-Segambut) saying she agrees with Tajuddin for the first time.
“I agree with what Pasir Salak said for the first time because he said he did not hear the deputy speaker asking him to go out.
“That is true. None of us heard the deputy speaker saying so,” she said, adding that Rashid’s behaviour was “very problematic”.
Teo also attempted to question Azhar, but she had her microphone cut off multiple times by the speaker, who urged the House to move on to the next item on the agenda as he had already made a ruling on this matter.
“I am being fair, I have admitted our mistake. I have listened, please sit down, thank you,” he said.
As Teo continued to try to speak, Azhar, who was visibly irritated, threatened to eject her from the Dewan Rakyat if she did not sit down.
“An MP who does not know he was punished, is the punishment valid or not, that is my question,” Teo eventually managed to ask.
“An MP who does not know he was suspended but the deputy speaker said he has been punished, is this fair? That’s all my question is, why can you not answer,” she said.
“I am not here to answer your questions,” an irate Azhar replied.
Pasir Salak’s ‘profanity’
There was an uproar in the Dewan Rakyat on July 20 after Tajuddin contended that he was a defender of women while accusing DAP women MPs of being foul-mouthed.
During the verbal kerfuffle, Tajuddin allegedly said “p*****k”, a Malay swear word, after which opposition lawmakers urged disciplinary action against him.
Rashid later ruled on July 26 that the curse word allegedly uttered by the Pasir Salak MP was not in the Hansard.
He also said Tajuddin’s punishment for disorderly conduct was two days of suspension – a punishment which Rashid claimed started on July 20 when he ordered Tajuddin to leave the Dewan Rakyat.
Teo previously urged for action to be taken against Rashid for allegedly confusing the House, as she pointed out that Tajuddin had returned to the Dewan Rakyat for the afternoon session and voted on the Sosma bill on the same day he was supposed to be suspended. - Mkini
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