Tajuddin insists he was not ordered to leave the Lower House
Dewan Rakyat Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun who was clearly annoyed at continuous questioning from MPs on the controversial two-day suspension issued against Tajuddin Abdul Rahman (Pasir Salak-BN) lost his cool today.
The brief shouting match followed Azhar’s ruling that Deputy Speaker Datuk Mohd Rashid Hasnon’s suspension order against Tajuddin stands, thevibes.com reported.
Addressing the lower house, Azhar lashed out against several MPs who repeatedly demanded for their grouses on the matter to be heard.
“I have been fair (on the issue). If you do not like my ruling, then you can file for a review. Do not accuse me of protecting (any party). I have heard you out,” he said.
Azhar who was on the brink of losing his patience then banged his gavel once befores shouting: “Do you want to go out now?! I am not here to answer your questions!”
Prior to that, Azhar who is fondly known as Art Harun said he was unaware of Rashid’s call to issue a two-day suspension on Tajuddin, and that was why he had allowed Tajuddin to remain inside for proceedings.
Tajuddin’s vote invalid
“I was in charge of the voting for the motion on the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 but I was not informed of the suspension. If I had known, I would not have allowed Tajuddin to enter the hall, much less vote.”
He then invoked Standing Order 100 and declared Tajuddin’s vote for the motion to be passed invalid.
Tajuddin however insisted that he was not ordered to leave the Lower House, but that he voluntarily left to attend to business outside Parliament.
“I did not fight when (Rashid) later said that he had ordered me to leave and suspended me because, on God (lillahi ta’ala), I am a Muslim and I did not want to waste time,” he said, to which Khalid Samad (Shah Alam-PH) quipped: “You are wasting time now.”
Hannah Yeoh (Segambut-PH) had then labelled Rashid’s conduct as “problematic”, alleging that the order in question had never been issued since no MPs could attest to having heard the ruling.
After persistent requests to speak, Teo Nie Ching (Kulai-PH) interjected and questioned how the suspension could be valid if the MP did not know that he had been sentenced to the punishment.
“He (Tajuddin) did not know that he was suspended, but (Rashid) said that he was. How is this fair?”
Yesterday, Azhar had said that he will review his deputy’s imposition of Tajuddin’s suspension following objections to the uncertain manner of its execution.
House Mislead
He said this after Teo sought a ruling from the speaker under Standing Order 36(12), accusing Rashid of misleading the House, in reference to Rashid’s decision last Tuesday to suspend Tajuddin for two days over his indecent outburst in the Dewan Rakyat, which took effect retroactively beginning the day of the incident on July 20.
The DAP lawmaker, however, quoted a July 20 Hansard as noting that Tajuddin had remained in the House throughout the proceeding that day, which should have rendered his suspension invalid.
On July 26, Rashid ruled that Tajuddin be handed a two-day suspension beginning the day of his outburst, when he was supposedly ejected, which did not impress the opposition.
It was pointed out that the deputy speaker did not in fact eject the Umno lawmaker.
The ensuing shouting match then saw Kasthuriraani Patto (Batu Kawan-PH) ejected from the House instead.
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