No action on reps who breached dress code

Wrong attire: (From left) Zakaria, Mohd Imran and Rizam leaving the state assemby building in Shah Alam. — KK SHAM/The Star

SHAH ALAM: Selangor assembly Speaker Ng Suee Lim has made it known that he will not take any action against Opposition assemblymen who breached the dress code.

“I won’t do anything. I will just let the people judge the behaviour of their elected representatives, ” he said.

The controversy came about on Monday when five assemblymen attended the sitting in their baju Melayu.

They were Rizam Ismail (Barisan-Sungai Air Tawar), Datuk Shamsudin Lias (Barisan-Sungai Burong), Datuk Mohd Imran Tamrin (Barisan-Sungai Panjang), Zakaria Hanafi (Barisan-Semenyih) and Datuk Dr Ahmad Yunus Hairi (PAS-Sijangkang).

Ng reminded them that baju Melayu was allowed on Fridays while lounge suits were required on other days.

But in a show of defiance, all of them, except for Dr Ahmad Yunus, came in baju Melayu on Tuesday.

Yesterday, the Opposition failed in its bid to challenge the Selangor assembly’s ruling of allowing traditional wear only on Fridays.

The private member’s motion to challenge the ruling was mooted by Rizam, who is the Selangor Opposition Leader.

The motion was defeated when only 10 out of the 56 elected representatives voted in favour of Rizam’s bid.

Speaking to reporters later, Ng explained that the state assembly had given priority to Rizam’s motion in the spirit of democracy.

“The assembly saw the importance of the motion and that is why we moved it up ahead of other matters, ” said Ng.

The Selangor assembly has 41 government and 15 Opposition assemblymen.

Rizam said the Opposition was disappointed with the outcome.

“Other state assemblies and even Parliament would allow elected representatives to come dressed in baju Melayu, ” he said.

Mohd Imran said it was regretful that other assemblymen, including Muslims, did not see the importance of the motion.

Yesterday, Rizam, Shamsudin, Mohd Imran and Zakaria were also in baju Melayu.

But Dr Ahmad Yunus wore a lounge suit.

Ng praised Dr Ahmad Yunus, who is the Selangor PAS commissioner, for abiding by the rules eventually, though he had also worn a baju Melayu on Monday.

He said he was empowered to make a ruling on the dress code based on Standing Order 87(7), which allowed the Speaker to make rulings from time to time.