KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 10): BN MPs stormed out of the Dewan Rakyat today in protest against Deputy Speaker Datuk Mohd Rasyid Hasnon’s decision to eject two lawmakers from the house for failing to listen to him and disrupting proceedings.
The two are Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan) and Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman (BN-Pasir Salak).
The two had demanded that government backbencher RSN Rayer should be made to apologise over an earlier decision of the Dewan Rakyat to order Datuk C. Sivarraajh (BN-Cameron Highlands) to leave the house.
Speaking at a press conference at the Parliament lobby today, BN Chief Whip Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the opposition coalition's MPs staged their walkout today as a protest against the deputy speaker's decision.
"All the BN MPs came out of the house, for the second time, due to our disagreement with the deputy speaker's decision which is biased," he said.
The BN MPs had also walked out of the Dewan Rakyat last Wednesday after Speaker Datuk Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof ordered Sivarraajh to stay out of the house pending proof that he has filed an appeal against the Election Court's decision to nullify his victory in the May 9 general election due to bribery. The ruling was made after the matter was raised by Rayer (PH-Jelutong).
Ismail said that even though Mohamad Ariff today allowed Sivarraajh to return to the Dewan Rakyat, the fact remains that the MIC vice president was denied of his rights as an MP for two sessions.
"He could not exercise his rights to debate on two days even though there are issues concerning Cameron Highlands that could have been raised," Ismail said.
"We consider the decision (by Mohamad Ariff) to exclude Cameron Highlands as a mistake," he said, adding however that BN was not seeking an apology from the speaker.
"We didn't ask the speaker to apologise (because) the root cause of the problem was the action of Jelutong, and so we asked Jelutong to apologize," he said.
Ismail said BN wanted Rayer to withdraw his remarks made on Wednesday and apologise to Sivarraajh.