MP ejected after heated row with Speaker
Segambut lawmaker Lim Lip Eng shouts at Speaker: “We are elected reps but you were appointed by MO1.”
KUALA LUMPUR: DAP’s Lim Lip Eng today became the first elected representative to get ejected from the Dewan Rakyat’s Special Chamber by Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia, after a heated row over a press statement the lawmaker had issued earlier.
Segambut MP Lim said Pandikar had “lectured” him even before he had the chance to read out the question he prepared on Budget 2017’s allocation for Kuala Lumpur City Hall.
“Before I could start talking, Pandikar asked me to sit down and he started to lecture me, saying I had ridiculed him outside the Dewan by issuing a press statement on his sub judice ruling (over the United States Department of Justice’s 1Malaysia Development Berhad-linked civil suit).
“I had said (in the statement) that if Pandikar’s logic is applicable, then its fine for our court to use overseas evidence to implicate the Malaysian Official 1 in Malaysia.”
Last week Pandikar had barred any debate in Parliament on the DoJ lawsuits, citing “sub judice.”
Lim however responded with a statement, arguing that if Pandikar’s claim was true, then investigations abroad could also affect the case here against the scandal-hit sovereign fund.
Lim’s argument however did not go down well with Pandikar, who made it clear today in the Dewan Rakyat’s Special Chamber.
“After he was done lecturing me, I stood up and argued with him. I said don’t lecture me, let me finish my speech but he started again so I called him a disgrace to the Parliament,” Lim said.
“Then he chased me out and before I walked out, he yelled at me and I yelled back at him. I said ‘we are elected reps but you were appointed by MO1’.”
“Then he yelled at me again so I walked out,” said Lim.
Later Lim along with other DAP lawmakers held a press conference where they slammed Pandikar for bringing personal issues into a venue meant for public related issues.
Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching said that if the Speaker was unhappy with Lim, he should have called for a meeting with the MP in his private chamber.
“We were there (special chamber) to raise matters concerning the public. Pandikar should have allowed Lim to read out his question first but because of what happened, the speech was not delivered and we did not get a reply.”
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DAP Supremo Lim Kit Siang echoed Teo remarks, adding that parliamentary time should not be used to make “unnecessary comments.”