Karpal suspended from Dewan Rakyat for 2 days

Karpal suspended from Dewan Rakyat for 2 days
Husna Yusop and Giam Say Khoon

KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 23, 2008) : Bukit Gelugor MP Karpal Singh was suspended from the Dewan Rakyat for two days for uttering the words "kurang ajar" – an unparliamentary word - to Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz today.

Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia made the decision after Karpal accused him of not being serious and "main-main" (fooling around) in carrying out his duties.

"I am suspending Bukit Gelugor because he has used the word kurang ajar. I am showing you that I am serious. I am not abusing my power. I am just exercising my power," he said while instructing the sergeant-at-arms to accompany the wheelchair-bound Karpal out of the House.

It all started with the disclosure by Nazri that the government had spent RM81,965.75 for a Bar Council dinner at JW Marriot Hotel in April, in reply to a question from Wee Choo Keong (PKR-Wangsa Maju).

Wee then asked why the government agreed to sponsor it, suggesting it was a form of corruption, but Nazri said the government was trying to make up with the Bar Council as their relationship had not been good before.

"When I was made the minister in charge of law before, it was general knowledge that the relationship between the council and the previous government was not quite good. I felt responsible to ensure the government and the judiciary have a good relationship, without any quarrels or severe differences in opinion," he said, suggesting Wee could be "blind" for not being able to see the nature of their relationship.

That was when Karpal raised a point of order, claiming Nazri was being "kurang ajar" for insulting the blind.

However, Pandikar Amin said Karpal should not simply use the standing order when it was on his favour as fellow Pakatan Rakyat member Wee had also accused Nazri of being corrupt and that was also offensive.

The two then had an exchange of words:

Karpal: Can the noble warrior (referring to Pandikar Amin) make sure that the blind is not insulted in the House by a kurang ajar minister?

Pandikar Amin: Enough, don’t prolong this.

Karpal: This is not prolonging matter. This is an insult to the disabled and I represent the disabled in this House. Can the minister retract his word?

Pandikar Amin: He was not insulting the disabled as a whole, he was just addressing Wee and this kind of practice (name-calling) has been a culture here.

Karpal: That was another matter.

Pandikar Amin: You must not interrupt anymore. In fact, you also uttered the word kurang ajar just now. Enough. Otherwise, I will use my power under Article 44.

Karpal: Don’t main-main. This is serious matter.

Pandikar Amin: I am serious.

Karpal: You are not serious.

Pandikar then announced the two-day suspension on Karpal.

The opposition stalwart however, refused to budge.

Both Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur) and Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim tried to get the Speaker to reconsider his decision.

Pandikar Amin said he would only agree to retract if Anwar could guarantee him that similar incidents would not happen in future.

To this, Anwar said he will discuss it with other opposition leaders to make sure there would not be a repeat and asked Nazri to do the same by talking to BN chief whip Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak.

"It is difficult for me to make a decision and then retract it. But if I could get the support from the MPs, (I can re-consider)," Pandikar Amin said.

However, Nazri said he could not tell Najib to guarantee the same thing, adding that Pandikar Amin was actually taking action against Karpal because he was challenging the chair.

Pandikar Amin then said since a consensus could not be reached, he maintained his decision.

http://www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=26952

seals: Biasalah BN/UMNO can say anything, no action will be taken or even call other beruk, its ok. But the law is only for non BN/UMNO.

Comments

Anonymous said…
what a bloody load of chicken shit! worse name callings have taken place in previous sittings.. but no action has been taken

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