KUALA LUMPUR: Dewan Rakyat Deputy Speaker Alice Lau stamped her authority in the august House on Monday (April 3) when she ejected two Opposition MPs and a government backbencher for refusing to heed her instructions.
In the first incident, Datuk Awang Hashim (PN-Pendang) was ejected for accusing Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad of lying on the issue of Malay Reserve Land, resulting in a verbal spat between him and Lau.
Before his ejection, Awang claimed while debating the Finance Bill that Kedah had seen an increase in its Malay Reserve Land based on figures from the state Land Office.
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Lim Guan Eng (PH-Bagan) stood up to ask Awang to retract his statement for calling Nik Nazmi a liar.
There was a short exchange between the two with Awang claiming that Nik Nazmi had not spoken the truth.
However, Lau ruled that the minister's statement did not equate to lying, and requested that Awang retract his claim.
Awang refused to do so, saying he stood by his statement.
Following this, there was lingering dissatisfaction among several Opposition MPs including Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim (PN-Arau), who stood up to defend Awang after the latter was ejected.
Shahidan said Awang had spoken the truth and based his statement on facts.
However, Lau ordered him to sit down, saying: "Do you want to go out also?"
There was a short exchange between government and Opposition MPs, one of whom was heard calling Lim a "robber".
This drew an immediate response from RSN Rayer (PH-Jelutong), who asked Lau to order Shahidan out for making the comment.
“Was the word uttered? I did not press the microphone button. I did not mention it here,” said Shahidan.
In response, Rayer said Shahidan’s remarks were heard clearly in the House despite not using the microphone.
Lau then told Shahidan and Rayer to stop arguing.
“That’s enough. Even if the microphone wasn’t used, that doesn’t mean that you can call someone a thief in this House,” she said.
Rayer then reminded Shahidan that it was the holy month of Ramadan, but was told off by Lau for prolonging the matter.
Rayer then continued to seek a retraction from Shahidan despite Lau's warning to stop interrupting debates.
“Stop wasting time here. Get out of the House. Same goes to Jelutong,” she said, suspending Rayer for one hour.
Datuk Che Mohamad Zulkifly Jusoh (PN-Besut) was then ordered out of the House by Deputy Speaker Datuk Ramli Mohd Nor, who took the chair from Lau.
On Thursday (March 30), Ramli had suspended Che Mohamad for three days after he kept interrupting debates on amendments to the Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code to criminalise stalking as an offence.
His suspension was to have been in effect on Monday as well with Ramli telling Che Mohamad that he had been suspended for three days.
The MP argued briefly about the length of the suspension period before leaving.
