"3rd Class Parliament !"

KUALA LUMPUR (April 30, 2008): Newly-appointed Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia had his hands full on the first sitting of the parliament today, entertaining the antics of the MPs – both opposition and government.

The veteran politician, in trying to remain calm and get the proceeding to run smoothly, had to cajole the MPs to behave and get down to serious matters as he said most of the points they brought up were trivial and concerned technical issues.

They ranged from the validity of swearing-in without raising one’s hand to the sitting arrangement of Datuk Ibrahim Ali (Ind-Pasir Mas) and the number of words contained in each question for oral answers as written in the Order Paper.

Pandikar Amin had resorted to repeating the same phrases over and over again, reminding them not to interrupt when the Speaker is talking and not to speak until the Speaker allows them so as according to the Standing Order.

The Point of Order also was called numerous times, including for matters which are not relevant, forcing the Speaker to lament “the Malaysian Parliament now has become the Point of Order forum” with an obvious frustration tone in his voice.

He then said the MPs themselves must make sure they are in order then only can they pinpoint other’s disorderly behaviour.

During the first two hours , Pandikar Amin had to occasionally remind the MPs that he is the one in charge of the Dewan Rakyat and once he has made up his mind, his decision is final.

However, his decision was questioned and argued especially when he decided not to accept any additional questions due to the shortage of time since the first question could only be raised 25 minutes after the session commenced at 10am.

Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur) stood up, asked him to review the unprecedented decision which he claimed was ridiculous, accused him of making a mockery of the parliament, saying "this is not third world parliament but 10th world parliament."

The first question was from Razali Ibrahim (BN-Muar) who asked the Prime Minister to state the government’s new approach and plans to continue improving the public’s quality of life, especially in strengthening purchasing power, public safety and racial integration.

Pandikar Amin explained that additional question is a conventional practice during question and answer time but for today, he has decided not to accept any of it and this is not against the rule.

However, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi then intervened, but in a very subtle way, and requested to be fielded one or two questions.

Pandikar Amin then decided to give way to only one additional question to each question.

Ninety minutes later, when it was already time for debate, the House was still held back by the issue of interpretations on various Standing Orders and only three out of the 73 questions had managed to be fielded.

The Government block was out in full force today, with attendance by many senior ministers, including Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak as the cabinet meeting which are usually held on Wednesday has been rescheduled to Friday during the parliament session.

For the first time, the session was also being televised live for the first hour.

Things also turned ugly a few times such as when Karpal Singh (DAP-Bukit Gelugor) referred to Datuk Bung Moktar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan) as “Bigfoot” and for which he was called "big monkey" in return.

At another time, Ibrahim irritated opposition members when he pointed out the wheelchair-bound Karpal Singh did not stand up when asking a question.

Fong Po Kuan (DAP-Batu Gajah), Chong Chieng Jen (DAP-Bandar Kuching) and Azmin Ali (PKR-Gombak) were among those who fiercely stood up to Karpal’s defence, asking the Speaker to make Ibrahim withdraw his words.

However, Pandikar Amin did not heed to this call, but only advised all MPs to behave themselves and refrain from saying unparliamentary words.

At one point, probably due to too much free time at hand since the Dewan was not discussing any serious issues, Chong had pointed out that Question No. 2 from Bung Moktar contained more than 40 words and this is against the Standing Order.

To this, Pandikar Amin said it was a technical matter which has been considered and accepted by his office, therefore the MPs should not question it.

Later, Khairy Jamaluddin (BN-Rembau) also tried to rub it in when he pointed out Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (PKR -Permatang Pauh)'s Question No. 3 also had more than 40 words.

Petikan Dari: The Sun Newspaper

Sesuatu yang memalukan dan terkejut....itulah yang dapat aku katakan.Kecoh!!persidangan parliament yang pertama selepas PRU 12.Liputan selama 30 minit oleh media perdana kerajaan RTM,mengambarkan ketidak matangan ahli-ahli parliament dalam berbahas,serta sikap speaker Dewan yang boleh aku anggap berat sebelah.Sidang yang sepatutnya dimulakan dengan Sesi Soalan dan Jawapan Lisan itu terganggu sementara berikutan perbalahan yang berlaku antara beberapa ahli parlimen dalam soal urutan soalan-soalan Soal Jawab Lisan, isu penggunaan perkataan-perkataan menghina, isu Aturan Urusan Mesyuarat, hak-hak ahli Parlimen dalam mendapatkan peluang menyoal balas yang mana rata-ratanya adalah isu teknikal.Mungkin aku dapat simpulkan masing-masing mau tunjuh "jaguh" sehingga melupakan etika dan adab apabila berbahasa.Bagi ahli-ahli Barisan Nasional,mungkin ini kali kedua dalam sejarah mereka di parliment berhadapan dengan pembangkang dimana perwakilan BN di dewan rakyat kurang dari majoriti 2/3,yang cuba "provoke" perwakilan pembangkang.Saya mencadangkan agar speaker dewan perlulah terdiri daripada orang-orang yang bebas dari mana-mana peryertaan parti ahli politik agar kewujudan sikap "berat sebelah" tidak timbul atau suatu sistem perbahasan dalam dewan di kaji semula agar dapat memuaskan hati semua pihak yang bersidang.Bagi saya,kita tidak perlu meng"aibkan" orang lain walaupun berbeza bangsa dan agama.Jangan kerana "marah" dan mahu tunjuk "handal",budi bahasa tergadai....