updated version

The suspension of DAP member of Parliament Fong Po Kuan for six months without pay has "tarnished" the country's democratic system, an opposition leader said today.

Keadilan vice-president Azmin Ali said the episode has created dubious "history" and that the party regrets the censure on Fong which came about simply because she had criticised the House speaker.

He described the move "feudalistic" and said it was meant to stifle the MPs' freedom of speech.

The speaker should be open to criticism as it is meant to improve Parliament, added Azmin.

After a marathon debate yesterday, Parliament passed a motion to suspend and strip Fong of her monthly salary as well as allowances which amounted to RM7,000, for six months, for the 'contemptuous' remarks made against House speaker Mohamed Zahir Ismail.

Zahir himself allowed the motion when de facto Law minister Dr Rais Yatim proposed it on Monday.

The motion demanded that Fong issued a public apology but she refused and claimed her case did not go through the due process of natural justice.

Selective punishment

Fong, the youngest MP at 28, was alleged to have "brought down the dignity of the House" by accusing Zahir of "abusing his powers" and "preventing Parliament from carrying out its duties" when he dismissed her motion to debate the Certificate in Legal Practice (CLP) tampered results.

Azmin said the CLP motion was important as the scandal had not only affected the public but also the integrity of the legal profession.

He accused Barisan Nasional members of being "rubber stamps", saying he agreed with Fong that the House has turned into a "school for children".

"With the majority that Barisan Nasional commands in Parliament, the motion can be easily passed like every other law," said Azmin, who is Hulu Kelang's state assembly representative.

Azmin said several MPs have also acted "unreasonably and immoral" but were not subject to a similar motion.

"But when an opposition MP is steadfast in his or her stand to protect the people's interests, he or she will be punished harshly," he said.

Last month, Kinabatangan's Bung Mohtar Raidin who uttered the 'F' word in Parliament was merely asked to retract the word and apologise to the House.

Politically motivated

Meanwhile, DAP Melaka women's wing chairperson Betty Chew said BN members should be ashamed because they had voted against democracy, justice and freedom of speech when they voted to punish Fong.

Chew said Fong's case, which was not referred to the Committee of Privileges provided by the House's standing order, "breached the laws of natural justice".

The move was "political" as it was carried out on a woman MP who is also the youngest representative in the House, she added in a statement.

Chew said only the people of Batu Gajah - Fong's constituency - can strip her of the position.

"No one, not even Rais, has the right to do so.

"Now that Fong is no longer MP for six months, who is to represent the people of Batu Gajah?" she queried.

Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) executive director Cynthia Gabriel also criticised the action, saying the "acrimonious and harsh" sentence meted out on Fong extended to the people of Batu Gajah who voted her in.

Gabriel queried whether this was a punishment on the people for shunning the ruling BN and voting in the opposition.

"By suspending Fong, Parliament has gone against the wishes and the rights of the thousands of voters who had elected her," said Gabriel in a press statement.

'Stubborn' MP

However, Mahadzir Khir (BN - Sungai Petani) told malaysiakini yesterday that Fong was "stubborn and arrogant".

"All she had to do was apologise. We are not even going into the argument of whether she was right or wrong," he said.

"And it is not about voting blindly. We do have a conscience and we voted because she had tarnished the image of the House by insulting the speaker," he added.

Mahadzir said Zahir was "a very reasonable man" who had never appeared biased during his 19-year service in Parliament.