The drama which unfolded at the Dewan Rakyat this morning left DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang mystified all morning.
He is curious to know the reason for the opposition lawmakers returning to the Dewan Rakyat to be sworn in after staging a walkout over the manner in which Mohamad Ariff Mohd Yusof was appointed as speaker.
Acknowledging that he felt a sense of deja vu, Lim, who is no stranger to walkouts, also advised the current opposition not to blindly emulate the actions of the former opposition.
“They must have cogent, coherent, reasonable and acceptable reasons for their walkouts, unlike their ridiculous walkout this morning,” he said in a statement this evening.
The Iskandar Puteri MP said if PAS and Umno leaders cannot provide a cogent, reasonable and acceptable explanation, he does not expect their MCA and MIC counterparts to do so.
“And I shall not ask them at all,” he added.
Lim also warned of a possible move by former premier Najib Abdul Razak's acolytes that would mar the second day of the 14th Parliament tomorrow which is the official opening of the current session by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
He claimed that based on fake news and false information, there would be an attempt to revive the toxic but failed politics of race, religion, hate, fear and lies spearheaded by Umno and BN in the 14th general election.
“Malaysians will judge whether these actions by Najib's acolytes are designed to promote national unity or calculated to incite imaginary fears to poison racial and racial relations which can only result in greater racial and religious polarisation and national division,” he added.
Opposition MPs, except for Umno lawmakers Khairy Jamaluddin and Mohd Anifah Aman, staged the walkout claiming that the speaker's appointment did not comply with the Standing Orders.
However, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad denied this.
About an hour later, the opposition lawmakers returned to the House and were sworn-in.
