Malacca Chief Minister Mohd Ali Rustam today faced the embarrassment of coming close to have a motion of no-confidence tabled against him by the opposition.

However he was saved by the assembly speaker Othman Muhamad who had rejected the notice filed by Goh Leong San (DAP-Kesidang) for the emergency motion.

ALI RUSTAM Goh's notice - which was filed on Monday night - called for the motion to discuss and debate Mohd Ali's "tainted image", "lack of integrity" and "loss of confidence in the chief minister by the people".

"This is because of his involvement in money politics in the recent Umno election which has affected his credibility as a leader resulting in a loss of confidence by the people," he added.

Othman however rejected the motion as it did not fulfil all three criteria for it to be debated. He said that the motion only complied with one of the three criteria - that of it being a specific issue.

"There is no great urgency to table the motion because it is not a natural disaster - it is also not of public interest as the case had been settled by Umno," he was reported as saying by Bernama .

An unsatisfied Goh said that the House rules allowed him to at least read out the contents of his emergency motion.

A shouting match

This resulted in the Barisan Nasional backbenchers to voice their dissatisfaction, which was promptly responded by the opposition. A shouting match ensued for the next 20 minutes.

The speaker once again was forced to intervene by reminding the members of his decision. He then asked them to continue with the proceedings.

The opposition has been gearing up to play up Mohd Ali's corrupt charges levelled by his own party Umno.

They had planned for a protest yesterday but held it back as a respect for the state governor who officiated the three-day assembly sitting.

On March 17, the Umno disciplinary board headed by Tengku Ahmad Rithaudeen found Mohd Ali guilty of breaking the party Code of Ethics and barred him from contesting the deputy president's post during the Umno election.

Responding today to the chaos in the house, Mohd Ali said: "This is an attempt by DAP to seek cheap publicity."

The Malacca state assembly has an overwhelming majority of BN elected representatives with 23 out of 28 seats. The remaining five seats are held by opposition party DAP.