KUALA LUMPUR, 25 March 2009: Ipoh Timur Member of Parliament Lim Kit Siang was ejected from the Dewan Rakyat today for calling Umno “power crazy”.
Deputy Speaker Datuk Ronald Kiandee made the decision after the DAP stalwart refused to retract the words despite repeated requests.
Lim argued that he was not breaking any rules as the words did not offend any race, and continued calling Umno “power crazy”.
Kiandee disagreed saying that the words caused much hurt to the many Umno MPs.
“I don’t want to act but if you persist, then you are going against my order. I have no choice but to eject YB (Yang Berhormat) from this dewan until 1pm,” he said.
The last time Lim was ejected from parliament was in the 1990s when he was suspended from attending the session for eight months.
Lim’s persistence prompted members from both sides to exchange some harsh words, including Datuk Bung Moktar Radin’s (BN-Kinabatangan) description of the opposition as being rude.
Earlier, a heated argument broke out for thirty minutes when Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi (BN-Batu Pahat) said Lim was inconsistent on the Human Rights Commission (Amendment) 2009 Bill for preventing its debate despite knowing its importance.
Lim refuted the claim saying he was not preventing debate on the bill but was questioning the hurry involved in presenting the bill as MPs did not have enough time to study the amendments.
The bill was tabled for first reading by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz yesterday. — Bernama
Tshiung Han See says
Why was Kit Siang ejected from parliament in the ’90s?
What isn’t clear in the report is whether Kit Siang’s “power crazy” remark came out of the “heated argument” about the Human Rights Bill amendment. If so, the outburst doesn’t sound like an isolated incident.