An emergency motion to debate the ‘noisy’ protest outside the Penang state legislative assembly last week ran into noise of its own in the House today.

Seri Delima assemblyperson RSN Rayer (right) and Pulau Betong assemblyperson Muhammad Farid Saad were involved in the row over the RM100 that some Muslim senior citizens were said to have returned to the state government during the protest last Tuesday.

Rayer accused Umno of theatrics over the issue of collecting the money and acting like gangsters during the protest.

Muhammad Farid and other representatives insisted that the money was haram (not kosher) and also that the protest was about land acquisition in Balik Pulau.

The proceedings turned so noisy that speaker Abdul Halim Hussain intervened by directing other assemblypersons to debate the motion.

Earlier, Komtar assemblyperson Ng Wei Aik had tabled the motion under Sections 30(1) and 30(2) of the assembly proceedings.

Abdul Halim accepted the motion to debate the issue on the basis that it was urgent and of public importance.

The motion was: That the state assembly strongly condemns the unruly and violent demonstrations of Nov 2 outside the compound of the House, which had disturbed the proceedings and insulted the House, so much so that the police had to called to defend the dignity of the House as the highest law-making body in Penang.

“This is one o f the most important motions for us to debate, to defend the dignity of the House. It does not mean that we condemn those who come to demonstrate in a peaceful manner to express their grievances,” Ng (left) said.

“But it also does not mean that people can be unruly and violent ...one person climbed the gates and chained himself to it. Was this intended to keep captive all the assemblypersons including those from the opposition, so that they could not enter or leave the House?”

During the demonstration, Lim had been unable to meet the protestors as he was in the midst of presenting the 2011 budget.

If the protest was mean to divert public attention from a “people’s budget”, said Ng, then he complimented Umno for achieving its target, as there was wider coverage of the demonstration than the budget speech.

Figures ‘don’t add up’

Ng further said he holds Umno responsible as many of its members were among the protestors, including state Youth chief Norman Dhalan.

Norman had been allowed into the building to hand over the money returned by Muslim senior citizens who had alleged that it had been derived from a source of gambling.

He had int ended to return the RM23,700 in cash, held in a plastic bag, to Lim. Instead, he was intercepted by the assistants to both deputy chief ministers who refused to accept the money.

Norman had said in media reports on Oct 5 that Umno had collected the money from about 1,000 senior citizens and that the amount would be remitted via the respective Umno branches.

“This shows that Umno is behind the campaign to instigate senior citizens to return the money,” said Ng.

“And if money was collected from 1,000 people, why was only RM23,700 returned? Where is the remaining RM76,300?”