the sun malaysia page 8 (2 may 2008)
TRANSCRIPT
news without borders8 theSun | FRIDAY MAY 2 2008
MANYwere glad they came to Parliament onWednesday to see the first-day sitting of thenew Dewan Rakyat where for the first timemore than a third of the members are from theopposition parties.
And if they are not going to be inParliament again, that noisy and fiery first dayis the picture of the Opposition-enlivened 12thParliament they are going to carry in theirhead for a long time.
The schoolchildren in the public galleryheld their breath as their elders – the people’srepresentatives – let their hair down andindulged in a frenzy of shouting, insulting, jeering, name calling, fists pumping and allkinds of other gesticulations as they went forone another’s throat.
It was different on Monday when theytook their oath as MPs and on Tuesday whenthey gathered to listen to the King’s speech.Then, forgetting their party affiliations, theyhad exchanged pleasantries and even jokedas they milled about in the members’ lounge,in the banquet hall and in the Dewan Rakyat lobby.
Thus, members of the public who werethere from Monday to Wednesday wonderedwhether what happened in the chamberduring the first sitting was merely for therakyat’s benefit especially when they knewthey were on camera.
Taking centre stage was the duel betweentwo old adversaries. Karpal Singh (DAP-Bukit Gelugor) had called the burly Datuk Bung Moktar Raden (BN-Kinbatangan) “bigfoot” and the shouter from Sabah respondedby referring to the DAP chairman as “bigmonkey”.
It was nothing new between the two andthey had merely reprised what they did in the
previous parliament.For them it was almost their way of singing
the old Indian love song, especially whenthey later smiled and shook hands outside theDewan.
Even Bung Moktar’s repartee to the wheel-chair-bound veteran lawyer that “if you dare,stand up lah ” seemed like re-acting of the oldscript.
And as if on cue, members of theOpposition, especially from Karpal Singh’sparty, were on their feet shouting their protest.The only difference was there were more of them this time and the whole building seemedto shake when they stood up together.
That he wasroundly chastisedby many NGOs thendid not seem todeter Bung Moktar.Neither did it deterDatuk Ibrahim Ali(Independent-Pasir Mas) especiallyafter Karpal Singhwanted to know whyhe was recognisedby parliament asan independent MPwhen he stood underPAS ticket during thegeneral election.
Many wonderedwhether the seeming
chaos was because of the new Speaker,Sabahan Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia,new Dewan Rakyat secretary RoosmeHamzah and many new members whotook to shouting “point of order, point of order” like they were veterans.
And like the veterans, they thrust their rules book at the Speaker whomade several rulings they foundunacceptable. They challenged theSpeaker further when he said: “I haveruled and my ruling is final.”
They peppered him with questionsabout the oath-taking, about thearrangement of the questions in theday’s order paper and on why thenewly-elected Opposition Leader DatinSeri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail(PKR-Permatang Pauh) was not giventhe opportunity to ask the first question.
On a number of occasions theSpeaker asked everyone to sit downwhile he lectured them about theprocedure and the convention of thehouse especially, “when I speak, no oneelse speaks and no one should be on hisfeet at that time” and “when I make aruling, it is final”.
It was only after 20 minutes that the first question, directed at the financeminister, was asked by Bung Moktar. DatukSeri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who hadbeen in his seat since 10 minutes before theDewan convened and was in the House tillthe end of question hour, answered.
After the prime minister sat down theHouse went into a frenzy again when theSpeaker refused to allow supplementaryquestions – the most interesting part of everysitting of the House – saying that too muchtime had already been wasted.
Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur) implored the prime minister to intervene.Abdullah, as leader of the House, stood upand said that “one or two supplementaryquestions should be alright”. The Speakerthen ruled: “OK, one supplementaryquestion.”
Wan Azizah’s turn to debate the motion of thanks to the King for his speech on Tuesdaycame at 15 minutes to adjournment timeat 5.30pm after Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting (BN-Kulai) and Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing (BN-Bintulu) had spoken as proposerand seconder.
She did not harangue the House like Kit Siang did when he was opposition leader
At the Dewan Rakyatby Zainon [email protected]
Fiery first-day sitting
– even if she tried. But she was no lesseffective. In a clear and masterly voiceshe said her first duty in speaking asopposition leader is to call for the freeingof all those detained under the ISA.
She even did not shout Datuk Tajuddin Abdul Rahman (BN-Pasir Salak) down when he said that she onlyallowed her cronies to intervene duringher speech – she gave way to Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang (PAS-Marang) instead of him.
Instead she said, and quite sweetly too:“Don’t say that. Tak baik .”
Top: Pandikar Amin: “When I speak, noone else speaks and no one should beon his feet at that time” and “when Imake a ruling, it is final”.
Centre: Lim and his team standup together to protest againstthe Speaker for refusing to allowsupplementary questions.
Bottom: Khairy Jamaluddin makinga point at the august House duringquestion time.
It is a pleasantexchangebetween oldadversariesBung Moktarand Karpaloutside theDewan.
theSun says:Low mark
for rowdyMPs –Pg 18