Pakatan Rakyat parliamentarians today received a double-blow from House Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia when both their emergency motions were rejected in chambers.

The first was the issue over the red-tape Bukit Antarabangsa landslide report submitted by Zuraida Kamaruddin (PKR-Ampang), which was rejected on technical grounds.

According to the speaker, there was already an emergency motion filed by another opposition MP Dzulkefly Ahmad (PAS-Kuala Selangor) to debate the issues surrounding the oil royalty, which was also rejected.

parliament pandikar amin anwar ibrahim lim kit siang dap pkr pc 121108 02 According to House procedure, explained Pandikar ( left ), the speaker could not accept more than one emergency motion the same day, therefore he urged the PKR MP to file the motion on another day.

Hearing this, Zuraida said that her motion should then be approved to allow the House to debate the matter because without the landslide report, "we are putting 100,000 Bukit Antarabangsa residents' lives on the line".

But the speaker refused to entertain the request, saying that the motion should have been "more specific and urgent", in line with the Standing Orders requirement.

Earlier this week, Zuraida, on behalf of the residents had vowed to file an emergency motion at the House on declassification of the report in order to seek the truth behind the tragedy that had claimed five lives and buried 14 houses.

PAS' motion on oil royalty also rejected

PAS, too, expressed regret when the speaker also rejected a motion on issues surrounding Kelantan's oil royalty.

Speaking to reporters a the Parliament lobby, Dzulkefly Ahmad (PAS-Kuala Selangor) said that the speaker has rejected the motion "without any reason" given using his prerogative under the Standing Orders.

pakatan pc on spr ban pondok panas 280409 dzulkefly ahmad However, said Dzulkefly ( right ), the party will not back down as they will still press the issue until it is addressed.

Besides, he said that they still want to discuss the issue again with Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, an outspoken Umno leader who had offered to a lead Parliamentary oil royalty caucus set up by the Pakatan parliamentarians recently.

"...(the discussion is needed) so the Parliament can be the final check and balance to the executive and judiciary.

"Tengku Razaleigh has also given his bi-partisan opinion and stressed this issue is about honouring our agreement, sanctity of contract and finally the interest of the people in Kelantan," said Dzulkefly.

He also said that PAS is also putting forward a proposal for the government to hold an intellectual discourse participated in by state and government representatives.

The discourse will also include Tun Salleh Abbas and Tengku Razaleigh, both of whom were involved in the drafting of the Petroleum Development Act 1974.

The oil royalty issue was highlighted when Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's announced that the federal government would make 'goodwill payments' from offshore oil operations to the PAS-ruled state of Kelantan from next year.

Opposition MPs, especially those from Kelantan, rejected the offer saying that the federal government should pay the state its entitled oil royalty and that the goodwill payments are akin to charity.