Ejection, walkout and fines on final day

Written by Chan Kok Leong & Sharon Tan, The Edge 

It was a fiery finale as a war of words, an ejection, a walkout and fines brought an end to the second session of Parliament 2009 today.

In the most anticipated debate and motion of the day, veteran member of Parliament Karpal Singh (Bukit Gelugor-DAP) was ejected by Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia for returning an insult to Khairy Jamaluddin (Rembau-BN).

During the debate on the motion to carry out the Parliamentary select committee's recommendations to fine four Umno Youth leaders for obstructing Karpal on his way to Dewan Rakyat in February, Khairy attempted to explain their actions.

Citing "mitigating circumstances", Khairy, who is the Umno Youth chief, told the House that their action was "within reason". The Oxford-trained MP also said their action was prompted by "unfair" statements made by Karpal in the august House.

"The four did not plan to obstruct Karpal but were at Parliament on the invitation of the Mersing MP (Datuk Dr Abdul Latiff Ahmad). But while on their way to Parliament, they came across Karpal and attempted to clarify some of his statements," said Khairy.

Having taken another look at the YouTube video of the incident, Khairy said the "obstruction" was partly helped by Karpal's assistant Michael Cornelius.

"Before the other MPs (Fong Po Kuan of Batu Gajah, Lim Lip Eng of Segambut, N Gobalakrishnan of Padang Serai and Fong Kui Lun of Bukit Bintang) came into the scene, the four did not touch him, other than put a hand on his wheelchair," Khairy said.

"And when Karpal told his assistant to move, Michael was too busy on the phone trying to get reinforcements. So, even the charge of obstruction is unclear," he added.

Although he admitted that the four were wrong, Khairy nevertheless blamed Karpal for being "the root cause" of the incident. He added that the four had also "apologised to the committee" and that Karpal should do the same for his role in the matter.

He reasoned that if the veteran lawyer had not accused Umno Youth of sending him a bullet or called them derogatory terms, the incident would not have taken place.

Throughout the debate, Khairy dared Karpal to repeat his accusations against Umno outside Parliament and asked him to "stand up to defend himself".

When Karpal returned fire by calling Khairy "unworthy and a person guilty of corruption", Pandikar ejected him.

Leading to the ejection, shouts of "Bodoh" were heard from both sides.

Besides the wheelchair-bound lawyer, Khairy had also traded barbs with DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang (Ipoh Timur). While Khairy called him "Jurassic", Kit Siang shouted back "leader of Mat Rempits".

During the debate, Karpal and other opposition MPs like Kit Siang and Po Kuan had asked Pandikar to excuse himself as the Speaker also chaired the select committee on the issue. They also asked that the fine be increased as RM1,000 was "too low" and that the four should apologise to the Dewan Rakyat in person.

The Barisan Nasional had wanted Karpal cited for "pre-releasing" the committee recommendations to the press on Tuesday.

The committee on Tuesday had found Petaling Jaya (Utara) Umno Youth chief Latt Sharizan Abdullah, Gombak Umno Youth chief Megat Zulkarnain Omar Din, Shah Alam Umno Youth chief Azhari Shaari and Serdang Umno Youth chief Ungku Md Salleh Ungku Abd Jamal guilty under Section 9 of the Houses of Parliament (Privileges and Powers) Act 1952 for their act to confront Karpal, who was on his way to Parliament on Feb 26.

The committee also recommended that eight opposition MPs — Karpal, Po Kuan, Lip Eng, Gobalakrishnan and Kui Lun, who refused to attend the inquiry as witnesses, and Kit Siang, Datuk Kamarudin Jaafar (Tumpat-PAS) and R Sivarasa (Subang-PKR), who refused to attend the inquiry as committee members — be admonished by Pandikar Amin as a deterrent.

During the winding-up, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz (Padang Renggas-BN) explained that the fine was set at RM1,000 as that was the maximum quantum under the law.

When Mohamed Azmin Ali (Gombak-PKR) asked if the committee would follow up by lodging a police report against the four, Nazri said: "The victim (Karpal) was not even willing to testify before the committee, so how can we make the report on his behalf?

"He may not agree with us lodging a report on his behalf. And he should make his own report."

At this juncture, Kit Siang led the remaining MPs out of Parliament while the House, now comprising of BN members only, passed the motion unanimously.

After the two-hour drama, MPs from both sides returned to the Dewan Rakyat later to debate the remaining bills while the four youths, accompanied by Khairy, duly paid their fines.