Dewan Rakyat Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia today said he had questioned if parliamentarians should continue being private legal practitioners once they are elected.

Pandikar said so to reporters today after admitting he has difficulty determining personal interests of MPs who are lawyers in raising certain issues in Parliament.

The speaker was referring to an incident yesterday when he ejected PKR's Padang Serai MP N Surendran from the House after the latter insisted on raising a petition about death in custody victim P Karuna Nithi.

Pandikar said that Surendran might have an interest in the matter because the latter did not declare that he was the lawyer for the victim's family.

NONEHowever, rather ironically, the Parliament selection committee had appointed Surendran (right in photo) as one of the Standing Order Committee members.

Surendran had yesterday challenged the speaker's interpretation of standing orders while raising his petition.

Pandikar also explained that he had to reject Surendran’s petition because he had to seek a reply from the Home Ministry in relation to the petition.

“The Home Ministry told me that the case is currently with the magistrate because the police wants to conduct an inquest before they can charge anyone,” Pandikar said.

“By convention, you only submit a petition in Parliament if you have exhausted all avenues outside of Parliament,” he further added.

Pandikar stressed that it would be “misleading” for the House if MPs do not declare their personal interest while raising a particular issue.

New line-ups for parliamentary panels

At the same press conference, Pandikar announced the new line-ups for parliamentary committees for the current Dewan Rakyat session.

The Public Accounts Committee, which is 12-members strong, will be chaired by BN’s Pulai MP Nur Jazlan Mohamed, and the deputy chair will be retained by DAP’s Kepong MP Tan Seng Giaw.

Surendran is accompanied by DAP’s Ipoh Barat MP M Kulasegaran in the Standing Order Committee as the two opposition representatives in the six-member lineup.

The Rights and Privileges Committee and the House Committee are both chaired by Pandikar himself, as expected.

The two opposition members in the Rights and Privileges Committee are DAP’s Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo and PKR’s Bukit Katil MP Shamsul Iskandar Akin.