Five of the six members of the Parliamentary Privileges Committee had apparently disagreed that DAP Bukit Gelugor MP Karpal Singh"misled the House" over the oath-taking ceremony in May, according to minutes of one meeting that were revealed in the Dewan Rakyat today.

Karpal questioned the basis of the committee's findings and sanctions as he read out their purported comments while mounting a 90-minute defence this morning. However, the minutes were not attached to the committee's report.

Minister in the Prime Minister Department Nazri Abdul Aziz had earlier tabled the motion to debate the committee's report amidst chaos and objections by the Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timor).

Karpal first cited the comments of committee member and Kelantan Umno deputy chief Zaid Ibrahim (BN-Kota Bharu) as recorded in the minutes of the July 10 meeting.

Zaid was not present in the House but was quoted as having said that, in his opinion, Karpal had not misled the House on May 17 when pointing out it is convention for parliamentarians to raise their right hand when being sworn in for their new term of office.

According to recorded remarks, Zaid said: "He (Karpal) made the mistake as (he is a) human being and we all make mistakes. I say this because one day we will make mistakes...we will have to be responsible for this precedent. If we set the wrong precedent, one day we will also rugi."

'Decision questionable'

Another committee member Chor Chee Heung (BN-Alor Setar) was stated as saying that the issue "did not have sufficient grounds" to have misled the House.

Dr James Dawos Mamit (BN-Mambong) echoed this view although he pointed out that Karpal had publicly embarrassed the House.

MIC's K Devamany (BN-Cameron Highlands) said the issue of misleading the House did not arise, according to the minutes.

Said Karpal: "So I have four votes from BN (representatives), plus one from Bukit Mertajam (DAP's Chong Eng). I have five votes against one. How can the committee find me guilty of misleading the House?"

The sixth member was Dewan Rakyat deputy speaker Dr Yusof Yacob, who had chaired the committee meetings.

Minority report

Karpal asked why the verbatim comments of the members had not been attached to the committee report, so that fellow-parliamentarians could follow the arguments over the four meetings held by the committee.

He also said it was questionable that the committee members had not read the report before it was tabled in Parliament.

Karpal told the House that it should not set a bad precedent by sanctioning him because similar action could be taken against other parliamentarians in future.

Although he urged BN representatives to vote with their conscience, the House later passed the motion to seek his apology or face suspension.

Earlier, Lim had objected the report being tabled on the ground that it was incomplete because a minority report had not been attached and the committee members had not been given the opportunity to read the document first.

"Bukit Mertajam (Chong Eng) has objected the sanction against Karpal and her views should be recorded in a separate minority report," Lim argued.

Nevertheless, deputy speaker Lim Si Cheng ruled the minority report was not necessary. He said this was laid down as precedent in a similar 1984 motion to sanction DAP Sandakan MP Fung Ket Wing.