Red card for Karpal; yellow for KJ, Kit Siang

DAP national chairperson Karpal Singh was given the marching orders while his party colleague Lim Kit Siang and Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin received warnings.

The Bukit Gelugor MP was shown the exit from the Dewan Rakyat when he refused to heed speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia's instruction not to use unparliamentary words.

The MPs were debating the select committee's findings pertaining to the incident where Karpal was mobbed by Umno Youth members.

On Monday, the select committee found four Selangor Umno Youth leaders guilty of being involved in a fracas .

The four youth leaders were Latt Sharizan Abdullah (PJ Utara), Megat Zulkarnain Omar Din (Gombak), Azahari Shaari (Shah Alam) and Ungku Md Salleh Ungku Abd Jamal (Serdang).

The select committee also decided to charge eight other members of parliament for failure to cooperate with the inquiry.

Lim Kit Siang (Ipoh Timor-DAP), R Sivarasa (Subang-PKR), Kamaruddin Jaffar (Tumpat-PAS) were charged for failing to attend the inquiry, despite being appointed to sit on the committee.

The others - Karpal, Fong Po Kuan (Batu Gajah-DAP), Lim Lip Eng (Segambut-DAP), N Gobalakrishnan (Padang Serai-PKR) and Fong Kui Lun (Bukut Bintang-DAP) - were charged for not attending as a witnesses.

Law on maximum fines outdated

During the debate, Khairy (Rembau-BN) challenged Karpal to reiterate his previous accusation that Umno Youth had sent two live bullets to his residence.

Responding, the DAP veteran said: "If this was from someone who is honest, I will take up the challenge but it is from someone who is corrupt."

Karpal also went on saying that Khairy "was guilty of corruption".

The speaker suspended Karpal from the rest of the proceedings when he refused to retract his statement.

Speaking to reporters later, Karpal, when asked whether accusing Khairy (left) of corruption was relevant, said: "Yes, I think so, it was. I was challenged, so I replied, simple as that."

"What is important is this RM1,000 fine which is the maximum under parliament law is outdated... something more serious should be included," said Karpal.

At the start of the debate, the opposition MPs were arguing that the maximum fine of RM1,000 was too low.

Karpal said the amount was only "loose" change for Umno Youth and there is a need for an amendment to the House of Parliament (Privileges and Powers) Act 1952 with more severe punishment.

They had also suggested that the punishment should be something akin to the Penal Code, which allows a prison sentence of maximum seven years.

Khairy: Fracas was mitigated by Karpal

Prior to the incitement, Khairy argued that the fracas that took place on Feb 26 was "mitigated" by Karpal himself.

"We have to look at the root cause of the incident... it is not the Umno Youth (who were rude) but it was the 'foul-mouth' of Bukit Gelugor (Karpal)," said Khairy.

"Nothing comes from nothing, something comes from something," he said.

Batu PKR MP Tian Chua (right) then interjected that Khairy, who now heads the Umno Youth, had no remorse over the incident which had taken place and was defending the action of the four who were accused of impeding Karpal.

Khairy said that he was merely trying to explain the circumstances when the incident had taken place and he was not defending the actions of the youth leaders.

"The incident took place because of Bukit Gelugor's pathological tendency to act with impunity," said Khairy.

However, he later apologised to the House and the speaker for the fracas.

During the winding-up, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz, said that RM1,000 is a large amount for some but for parliamentarians "it is nothing".

He conceded that RM1,000 was high in 1952 but at present the amount may not be a lot and said the amount and punishments need to be reviewed.

The motion to fine the four youth leaders and to admonish the MPs was passed. However, the opposition MPs staged a walkout without voting, calling the debate session "a black instance in Malaysian Parliament".

Umno Youth will be more careful

At a press conference at the Parliament lobby with the four youth leaders, Khairy incessantly drew attention to the fracas.

He reiterated that it was caused by Karpal's "foul mouth" because he had accused Umno Youth of a crime without evidence.

Khairy, however, stressed that Umno takes full responsibility for the incident and that it was not premediated or intentional as there was no violent physical contact with Karpal until the other Pakatan MPs came to his assistance.

"It is a lesson for all of us... Umno Youth will be more careful," said Khairy, adding that Karpal should be aware of his mistakes as well.

Khairy added that four youth leaders paid their fines to parliament which was donated by "generous grassroots members".

VIDEO | 2 mins