The final day of the Penang assembly sitting ended on a fiery note when Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng (DAP – Air Putih) and several opposition members had a heated exchange of words over the Arabic term Amar Ma'aruf Nahi Mungkar .

Lim was delivering his winding-up speech on the state’s 2009 budget when Barisan Nasional's Shabudin Yahya (Umno – Permatang Berangan) chided him for misusing th e Arabic term , a verse from Islamic holy book the Al Quran, for political gain.

Shabudin said the chief minister should first understand the entire meaning of Quranic verse before using it in his speeches and campaign banners.

anwar ibrahim sodomy allegation saiful bukhari azlan first day in court 070808 lim guan eng Lim ( left) has frequently used the verse - which means ‘enjoin what is good and forbid what is evil - in his speeches and the state government had also utilised it in Hari Raya greeting banners across the state recently.

Shabudin, who is Penang Islamic Religious Council president, said Amar Ma'aruf Nahi Mungkar did not only mean to rule for something good while rejecting evil, vices and other wrongdoings.

He said the term also had the intention of motivating a leader or ruler to lead his subjects to absorb Islamic religious values and accept Allah as their sole Almighty.

"Since the chief minister is not a Muslim, it would be difficult to practice what he preaches. My advice is for the chief minister to stop using this term," he said.

Umno man an ISA supporter

In his reply, Lim denied that he was using the term for political mileage but rather was attempting to absorb the values espoused by the term in his governance as he wanted to infuse Penang’s administration with the values of other religions and cultures.

"Since I did not use it as a term of reference from the Al Quran, I'm not wrong in using it," he said.

He then challenged Shabudin to denounce the Internal Security Act (ISA) if he was an advocate of Amal Ma'aruf Nahi Mungkar to which government backbenchers vigorously thumped tables in support.

When the Umno assemblyperson said that he supported ISA to protect national security interests, Lim immediately accused him of being a hypocrite.

"When you support the ISA then you are not qualified to question me on Amar Ma'aruf Nahi Mungkar ," said Lim, who also used the term during his televised TV debate on land scams with former chief minister Dr Koh Tsu Koon in August.

Earlier, at start of the meeting, R Sanisvara Nethaji Rayer (DAP – Seri Delima) called on Deputy Speaker Tan Hock Leong (PKR – Machang Bubok) to ban Utusan Malaysia reporters from covering the House proceedings.

Rayer was apparently offended by what he said was Utusan 's alleged biased and racist reports over Deputy Chief Minister Dr P Ramasamy’s (DAP - Prai) disclosure in the House last week that civil service job application forms from non-Malays were torn and thrown away by government officers.

Legislator given nickname

penang land scam 290708 p ramasamy The Seri Delima assemblyperson said Utusan had turned Ramasamy’s ( right ) statement into a racial issue to incite hatred among Malaysians.

Tan declined to ban Utusan ’s reporters but nonetheless warned the Malay daily to exercise caution and be more responsible in reporting House proceedings.

Opposition Leader Azhar Ibrahim (Umno- Penaga) then took a swipe at Rayer for frequently referring to the House Standing Orders to stifle the opposition’s voice.

"Among all the 40 assemblypersons, he (Rayer) is the only one who does it. I have lost count of how many times our young Yang Berhormat has referred to the House rules to stop the opposition from talking.

"Next time, I will count them," the veteran legislator quipped.

A first-time assemblyperson, Rayer had earlier referred to the House rules to stop Azhar from using the word lingkup (gone bust).

Malaysiakini discovered that the legislators have given Rayer a nickname - 'YB Peraturan' (Mr Rules - for his penchant of quoting House rules every now and then.

Later, the House passed the budget and all relevant bills after which the third sitting of the 12 th Penang Legislative Assembly term came to a formal end.