Selangor Journal

‘Gangster’ word wreaks havoc in Parliament, gets MP ejected

By Syauqi Jamil
KUALA LUMPUR: Chaos ensued in the Parliament today when the word ‘gangster’ was uttered by a lawmaker during the first day of the parliamentary proceeding.

This ultimately lead to the maiden booting of this Parliament sitting when DAP Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh was ejected from the August House after he refused to retract his remarks against Umno Youths.

The ruling was made by Speaker Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof after the proceeding resumed for the afternoon session.

Speaking to reporters at the lobby after the ejection, Ramkarpal said that he was disappointed that the ruling made earlier in the morning session by Deputy Speaker Mohd Rashid Hasnon was not maintained.

“The Deputy Speaker’s ruling this morning was final… Standing order is clear. When a ruling is made it is absolute. If we were to challenge the ruling then a motion needs to be filed,” he said.

Ramkarpal however is expected to return to the Dewan Rakyat tomorrow as he said that no time period was stated with the ejection.

It all started earlier during the morning session when Ramkarpal took a trip down memory lane, labelling Umno Youth members as gangsters for stopping his wheelchair bound late father Karpal Singh from entering the Dewan Rakyat back in 2009.

Opposition lawmakers then demanded Mohd Rashid who was in charge during then to get Ramkarpal to retract his statement, as they claimed it was against the Parliament’s standing order 36 (4) for using offensive language.

Mohd Rashid then ruled Ramkarpal to retract his statement, to which the latter politely declined.

“With the greatest of respect to the speaker and the House, I will not retract my statement,” he said.

Opposition lawmakers then questioned if offensive words would be allowed in the dewan and argued that if a member of the house disobeyed a ruling by the speaker, action must be taken on the person, including ejecting from the dewan.

Despite this, Ramkarpal remained adamant with his stand adding that he will not retract his statement even if the speaker decides to eject him from the Dewan Rakyat.

“I respect the speaker, and I will accept whatever decision the speaker has to make on me,” he said.

Mohd Rashid then said his ruling was only meant to serve as a warning, drawing dissatisfaction among opposition members who demanded Ramkarpal’s ejection which leads to more shouting in the August house until the proceeding adjourned for lunch.

Top Picks

DOSM opens 300 extra counters as Padu registration deadline approaches

New tax incentive for Malaysian digital status companies — MDEC

Two foreigners arrested, suspected foreign workers’ syndicate masterminds