Speaker blasts 'shameful' MPs after Dewan Rakyat descends into chaos

Summary

• A heated shouting match erupts between Awang Hashim and RSN Rayer during the 13MP debate, sparked by a poem from PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang.

• Exchanges over Standing Orders and accusations of rudeness escalate, with MPs trading political jabs about party governance in various states.

• Speaker Johari Abdul rebukes MPs from both sides, calling their conduct “embarrassing” and “shameful,” threatening suspension if disorder continued.

PARLIAMENT | Dewan Rakyat speaker Johari Abdul lost his cool today after a shouting match between opposition and DAP MPs.

“Very shameful of you all, shameful!” he exclaimed after an extended shouting match primarily between Awang Hashim (PN-Pendang) and RSN Rayer (Harapan-Jelutong).

During the debates on the 13th Malaysia Plan (13MP) in the Dewan Rakyat today, Johari (above) threatened to suspend the pair from proceedings if they continue to misbehave.

The uproar began when PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang (PN-Marang) ended his debate with a poem urging Pakatan Harapan leaders, particularly those from DAP, to resign from their positions in the government.

DAP’s Chong Zhemin (Harapan-Kampar) then stood up to cite Standing Order 36(1), over the raising of issues that are not relevant to the 13MP.

Tensions rose at this, and opposition members began shouting at him en masse.

At the same time, Che Zulkifly Jusoh (PN-Besut) said the Standing Order only applies to matters relating to bills.

Moving on, but…

In response to this, Chong argued that the house was not a courtroom and that the order in question could apply to the contents of a speech.

Suhaizan Kaiat, who was standing in as speaker to chair proceedings when the incident started, made the decision to move on from the matter.

Rayer then cited Standing Order 36(6), which says that no member of the house can attribute improper motives to any other member.

“I was here to listen to Marang’s speech as a spiritual teacher that we respect from PAS,” he said.

Awang rose and said that Rayer was lying about his respect for Hadi, with the Harapan lawmaker then saying he was bringing the order against the former for being rude.

During the ensuing shouting match, Awang said there was no issue with Hadi’s poem, where the latter attributed a problematic Kuala Lumpur to the rule of DAP, Harapan and ally BN.

“(It’s because) of DAP’s rule that it (Kuala Lumpur) has become problematic. There were no problems before,” Awang said.

“This is PAS’ standards,” Rayer replied.

Chong issued a retort, saying, “If I say that Kedah and Kelantan have problems because of PAS, is that acceptable?”

This led to Che Zulkifly shouting, “This is DAP’s standards!”

‘Please behave’

The house descended into more shouting for a few more minutes, despite Suhaizan calling for order.

Johari later stepped in to replace Suhaizan, pleading with the MPs on both sides to behave.

After Young Syefura Othman (Harapan-Bentong) began her debate, another spat broke out.

Chong attempted to raise the matter of whether rude words can be used in the house, causing Johari to yell, “Shut up! Both sides sit down!”

Shortly into Syefura’s debate, Johari again took Awang and Rayer to task for misbehaving.

“If you want to exit, exit properly, don’t provoke (other MPs),” he said.

“What is this? What kind of representatives of the people are like this? (You are) embarrassing,” he added.

Reporting by Zarrah Morden, Alyaa Alhadjri, Haspaizi Zain

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