Malacca Harapan doesn't recognise new speaker, Omar to continue duty
The voting in of Malacca Umno chief Ab Rauf Yusoh as the new state legislative assembly speaker is not valid, claims Malacca Pakatan Harapan.
Dr Wong Fort Pin (Bemban-DAP) said that as far as they are concerned, Omar Jaafar is still the legitimate speaker of the State House....
The voting in of Malacca Umno chief Ab Rauf Yusoh as the new state legislative assembly speaker is not valid, claims Malacca Pakatan Harapan.
Dr Wong Fort Pin (Bemban-DAP) said that as far as they are concerned, Omar Jaafar is still the legitimate speaker of the State House.
"What they are doing is null and void. (It is) out of order," Wong told Malaysiakini when asked for comments on Rauf's appointment this morning.
Wong is also the deputy speaker of the state assembly.
Rauf (above), who is not an assemblyperson, was elected as the new speaker during a voting session carried out in the absence of Harapan state representatives.
A total of 16 Perikatan Nasional (PN) assemblypersons voted in support of the motion. They also voted in Rim assemblyperson Ghazale Mohamad (Umno) as the new deputy speaker.
The voting session was held about an hour after Omar had ordered for the sitting to be adjourned to its next date, which is to be determined.
Omar made the order after a shouting match lasted for about an hour between himself, Idris Haron (Sungai Udang-Umno) and several Harapan representatives over a motion to eject Omar and replace him with someone aligned to PN.
"The sitting was already adjourned. What they did was their own rehearsal.
"As far as the Standing Orders of the state legislative assembly of Malacca is concerned, Omar is still the speaker.
"We have to wait for the next state assembly to put things in order," Wong added.
Different understanding of Standing Orders
According to new Chief Minister Sulaiman Md Ali (Lendu-Umno), the move to replace Omar was made according to the Standing Orders of the state legislative assembly.
Speaking to reporters after Rauf's appointment, he said Omar did not postpone this morning's sitting according to the Standing Orders and thus the speaker was deemed as absent from the assembly.
After checking with the state government's legal adviser, Sulaiman (above) claimed PN decided to reconvene the sitting with a temporary speaker who then initiated the motion to elect Rauf in replacement of Omar.
This was done as Rule 17(5)(a) of the House's Standing Orders stated that a state assembly sitting can only be postponed through a motion that is passed by the assembly.
"But there was no motion to postpone the sitting today. And at the moment he left the assembly, it means that the speaker was absent from the sitting.
"This allowed for a temporary speaker to be appointed, and we immediately elected a new speaker after that," he said.
When asked about this later, Wong disputed Sulaiman's argument, saying that it is the power of the speaker to make a ruling and that the speaker's decision is final.
Wong cited Rule 36 of the Standing Orders, which states: "The decision of the speaker upon interpretation of any of these Standing Orders, or upon any matter of practice, shall be final, and the speaker may from time to time issue rulings thereon."
However, he conceded that PN has the numbers to change the speaker, but stressed that it should be done properly.
"They need only follow proper order to do it right. Call another state legislative assembly any time of their choosing.
"They have 17. We only have 11. No need to fight. What they are doing is the cowboy's style," he said.
Last week, it was reported that Sulaiman had filed four motions to be discussed at today's assembly sitting.
These include four that concerns the removal of Omar and Wong, and their replacements. However, these four motions had been rejected by Omar.
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