The Parliament today decided not to refer Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohamed Nazri Aziz to the rights and privileges committee for making an untrue statement in Dewan Rakyat.
The decision by Deputy Speaker Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar (left) was objected to vehemently by Gobind Singh Deo (DAP-Puchong), who was then suspended for two days for challenging the ruling.
Wan Junaidi explained that he adjudicated the matter based on three factors; one, if the statement by the minister was misleading; two, if the minister knew the statement was misleading; and three, if the minister intended to mislead the house.
According to Wan Junaidi, although Nazri's statement was misleading, he was not cognisant that it was misleading, and therefore had no intention to mislead the House.
The deputy speaker said Nazri had not violated all three conditions and therefore need not be referred to the committee of parliamentary privileges.
Statement involved status of judges
Karpal Singh (DAP-Bukit Gelugor) on Nov 10 had asked that Nazri be referred to the committee alleging that the minister had lied to the House.
He was referring to Nazri's remarks in the House on Nov 6 that former Lord President Salleh Abas and other senior judges involved in the judicial crisis 20 years ago were not sacked but had their services terminated early following a recommendation by a panel.
Since then, Nazri has corrected the statement and said that all the judges involved had actually been sacked, but that their pensions have been paid on compassionate grounds.
He added that he believed the statement was true at the time and that he had no intention to mislead the House.
He had also said that he would accept any decision made by Wan Junaidi.
‘Decision is a mockery'
Karpal, the MP who proposed for an action to be taken again Nazri, was dissatisfied with the ruling and asked Wan Junaidi to reconsider his decision.
Karpal said that the deputy speaker had included statements made by the minister outside the House in making the decision.
"This is a mockery of this House. The decision is a mockery. The minister should apologise," said Karpal.
By now a shouting match ensued involving both sides of the House, with the BN backbenchers shouting down Karpal on that basis that the deputy speaker has already made his decision.
It was at this point that Gobind, who is Karpal's son, got up and accused the deputy speaker of defending the minister.
He was then ordered to sit, but he remained standing.
Gobind ordered out
This prompted Wan Junaidi to order Gobind out of the House, which he refused. The deputy speaker then sought for assistance in removing the Puchong MP and gave him a two-day suspension from the House.
"He (Nazri) makes the mistake and I pay the price," said Gobind as he walked out.
"They are all cowards (to the shouts from the BN backbenchers). Stand up (back to Nazri) and apologise like a man," he added.
Wan Junaidi was not amused and told the DAP man that he risked a 10-day suspension if he kept his protests not to leave. Gobind relented and left chambers.
Later, Nazri told a press conference that he was not going to apologise - malaysiakini.com
Posts
1 comments:
That's one of the many things I do not understand. People who mispresent goes off free while those who want the truth and justice is suspended. What august Parliament is this?
Post a Comment