The temperature in the Dewan Rakyat rose a few notches this afternoon over a motion to suspend DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang for insulting speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia.

The incident saw DAP MPs fuming and the speaker crumpling the notice of motion tabled by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Azalina Othman Said.

"If Gelang Patah (Lim) follows my order, I can do this," he told the House after crumpling the paper.

"If you dispute the procedure, then I can order the minister to retract her notice of the motion," he added.

Pandikar then slapped Lim with an ultimatum that he retract his statement or be referred to the rights and privileges committee for further action.

"I have to safeguard the integrity of the chair. If I let Gelang Patah to get away with his speech, then I cannot order other MPs ... I am creating double standard to the first degree," he said.

When the tension eased, Pandikar quipped that he needed to go to the washroom and excused himself, saying his deputy Ronald Kiande would take over.

Among those who saw red over the motion earlier was Anthony Loke (DAP-Seremban), who protested that it had been tabled despite Lim not being given a chance to explain.

The enraged lawmaker described this as an "act of tyranny" and accused Azalina of "jumping the gun" as she breached the parliamentary procedure.

Kit Siang denies insulting speaker

In defending Azalina, Pandikar said the minister only submitted a notice of motion instead of the motion proper.

"Only the speaker can determine if the procedure has been breached, not you," he said.

The speaker said Azalina tabled the motion because Lim did not show up at the first opportune time to explain as ordered by the House.

"When the Gelang Patah MP did not show up (earlier), I understand this is the reason why the minister tabled a motion," he said.

Yesterday, Pandikar ordered Lim to retract his statement and apologise to him at the first opportune time, or risk facing further action.

On Monday, Lim accused the speaker of abusing his powers by freezing the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) for three months in an attempt to sabotage its investigation into 1MDB.

The veteran MP was again told to retract his statement without condition by deputy speaker Kiandee.

This is despite Lim's explanation in the House today that he did not make a malicious statement against Pandikar.

"The speaker said (I accused him) of deliberately abusing his powers, and sabotaging the investigation.

"Firstly, I never used the word 'deliberately', Secondly, I did not speak in such a peremptory fashion as if I was reprimanding the speaker," he said.

The DAP supremo argued that he made the statement to seek clarification from Mohamed Hanipa Maidin (Amanah-Sepang), but the speaker had given his reasons to support his own intepretation.

"I have the fullest respect for the speaker and I make no malicious allegation that he 'deliberately' sabotaged the PAC's 1MDB investigation," he said.

Motion to suspend @limkitsiang from parliament for 6 months, will be debated tomorrow. Repressive to say the least. pic.twitter.com/NZ5mrApMPK

— Ong Kian Ming (@imokman) October 21, 2015