The motion to be moved by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz to suspend DAP MP for Puchong Gobind Singh Deo for a year without parliamentary pay and privileges is against the parliamentary Standing Orders.
Gobind had already been punished by the Deputy Speaker, Datuk Ronald Kiandee with a one-day suspension for what transpired in the House on Thursday, and it goes against all the rudiments of common sense, fair play and justice to invoke the Umno/Barisan Nasional parliamentary majority to subject Gobind to double jeopardy with a very harsh second punishment over the same parliamentary incident.
The Deputy Speaker had taken action against Gobind under Section 44 of the Parliamentary Standing Orders which, among others, provide:
Parliament Standing Order
44. (1) The Chair, after having called the attention order in the of the House, or of the Committee, to the conduct of a member who persists in irrelevance, or in tedious repetition either of his own arguments or of the arguments used by other members in debate, may direct him to discontinue his speech.
(2) The Chair shall order any member whose conduct is disorderly or whose acts are in contempt of the House or who continues to disregard the authority of the Chair to withdraw from the House for a period not exceeding ten days and such member shall immediately withdraw from the House. If the meeting adjourns before the end of such period, the remainder of the period shall be brought to the next meeting, unless Parliament is earlier dissolved, if the Chair does not determine the period for the member to withdraw, such period shall be deemed to be two days inclusive of the day of the incident.
(3) If the Chair deems that the power under paragraphs (1) and (2) is inadequate, he may commence the procedure to suspend the member from the service of the House by naming the member as follows:
“I hereby name the Honorable Mr . . . ”
A Minister shall thereafter rise and propose, and another Minister second, a motion as follows:
“That the House hereby resolves that Mr . . . be suspended from the service of the House until (date ).”The Chair shall put the motion to be decided by the House without any amendment, adjournment or debate.
(4) An action may be taken under this Order notwithstanding that the disorderly conduct, the act of contempt or the continued disregard of the authority of the Chair has taken place in a Committee of the House.
(5) If a member has been suspended from the service of the House, he shall be ordered to withdraw from the meeting and disallowed to participate in the meeting until the expiration of the suspension period. If the meeting which is in progress ends before the expiration of the suspension period, the remainder of the suspension period shall be brought to the next meeting, unless Parliament is earlier prorogued or dissolved.
The motion is also against all parliamentary tradition, convention and practices as matters of privilege arising from what happened in Parliament should be referred to the Committee of Privileges instead by way of summary motion not based on who is right or wrong, but who has got the parliamentary majority to impose its will on the House!
The right and proper occasion to invoke the summary powers of Parliament, the Umno/BN-controlled Parliament is not prepared to do so. But UMNO/BN MPs have no hesitation to invoke the summary powers of Parliament when it is clearly wrong and a gross abuse of power for the sake of their own political agenda.
I reiterate what I blogged yesterday:
“It is most shocking that Parliament refused to invoke its powers to deal summarily with violations of parliamentary privileges like the obstruction and menacing by UMNO Youth goons of DAP MP for Bukit Gelugor Karpal Singh from carrying out his parliamentary duties in the parliamentary precincts last month (Feb. 26), when this is very clearly provided for under the Act 347 – Houses of Parliament (Privileges and Powers) Act 1952, especially when such an offence is punishable with a seven-year jail sentence under Section 124 of the Penal Code.”
Is Parliament a court of justice or a House of Iniquity?
#1 by k1980 on Saturday, 14 March 2009 - 12:55 pm
The law needs to be changed such that it would require a 2/3 majority vote to suspend a MP from Parliament
#2 by Onlooker Politics on Saturday, 14 March 2009 - 1:05 pm
Double jeorpady being imposed on one same single offence is unconstitutional in many democratic countries. The Parliament of Malaysia should set a good example to the Judiciary Branch of the Government by rejecting a second punishment for one single offence on Gobind which is tantamount to double jeorpady.
Parliament is a sacrosanct meeting place of the people’s representatives for purpose of law making. I hope that the Parliament will not pass a motion which is likely to commit the unconstitutional behaviour of imposing double jeorpady on a Member of Parliament.
#3 by k1980 on Saturday, 14 March 2009 - 1:08 pm
Commentators who post anti-BN comments in the blogs are being fined RM10,000 each… Just fine 6 million commentators and the funding for the RM60 billion stimulus package is achieved
#4 by boh-liao on Saturday, 14 March 2009 - 1:48 pm
Actually a simple message from the BN-controlled parliament: You PR MPs must learn how to behave and kow tow to the majority. Otherwise, kena suspended and no income lah. Faham?
OK, kow tow, kock, kock, kock. Good boy!
#5 by hiro on Saturday, 14 March 2009 - 2:11 pm
Is there any doubt now that Najib will go to any lengths to secure his premiership? His wife said it’s his destiny. That means all gloves are off, ends justify the means.
There’s some rumour going around that PM’s few good men (MPs) may stand with Pakatan on a vote of no confidence against Najib. That’s why he has to reduce the numbers of the opposition Parliamentarians for his own safety. The danger at Parliament is far more significant than losing the two Bukits and Batang Ai.
#6 by chengho on Saturday, 14 March 2009 - 3:02 pm
Mr Singh just have follow Anwar advice go back to rakyat court resign from parliment let have byelection..
#7 by kevchua on Saturday, 14 March 2009 - 3:04 pm
Our Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department is another one of the loud-mouthed MPs (i’m not saying the PR members are angels) who don’t mince his words. A second motion is merely a plot to show that he’s also in authority, and to tell his boss, the DPM, that he’s doing his job as a Minister.
Like what I’ve mentioned in one of my responses, there’s no point yelling and screaming your lungs out in Parliament because doing that makes PR members appear to be like them. Think of other more appropriate ways to shoot these b*******s down. Yes, we have to continue fighting but PR should be a model of a more civilised party for the People of Malaysia.
#8 by milduser on Saturday, 14 March 2009 - 3:11 pm
Quote : \Is Parliament a court of justice or a House of Iniquity?\
House of Shameful Acts.
#9 by Onlooker Politics on Saturday, 14 March 2009 - 4:31 pm
“There’s some rumour going around that PM’s few good men (MPs) may stand with Pakatan on a vote of no confidence against Najib.” (hiro)
A motion for voting of no confidence against Najib in the Parliament seems to be a viable way to oust Najib from the seat of PM. However, Pakatan Rakyat leaders must think carefully before they table such a motion because PR does not have majority command of support in the Parliament without a promise of assured cooperation from 29 MPs of BN camp (assume Gobind has been suspended and all Indepedent MPs pledge support to PR’s motion).
Efforts must be attempted in order to do probing of intent and negotiate with several influential warlords or leaders of Umno before PR can really know whether majority votes can be secured if a motion of no confidence against Najib has been tabled in the Parliament. It seems that the MPs from both MCA and Gerakan will pledge their loyalty to Najib since they already have the personal interest at stake that is to be protected with the patronage of Najib. Therefore outsider support for PR in the Parliament must be secured from MPs of the ruling parties like Umno.
Is Khairy Jamaluddin having a strong influence on the MPs of Umno? Is Khairy a good choice of partner in the attempt to oust Najib? That will all depend on whether Khairy sees Najib as a friend or a foe!
In politics, everything is possible. There is no such words as “permanent friend” or “permanent foe” in the political dictionary. A marriage of convenience is not a mission impossible in Malaysian politics!
#10 by catharsis on Saturday, 14 March 2009 - 5:38 pm
The LATTER I suppose…………with so much of “BINLADINISM” going on lately
#11 by Jeffrey on Saturday, 14 March 2009 - 6:22 pm
BN MPs are no respecters of the rule against ‘double jeopardy’.
They’d say double jeopardy is applicable to criminal prosecutions and not parliamentary proceedings or some “split hair” argument that is it techincally being tried as distinct from punished twice for the same offense!
Looks like Gobind’s fate is almost sealed by virtue of perpetual operation of BN’s whip (party discipline) enforced over all of the BN’s MPs who are majority in Parliament!
What Onlooker appears to be alluding to in posting at 16:31:16 above is the unlikely prospect of framing the issue of debate in such a way that Nazri’s motion to suspend Gobind for a year without pay could be turned into an indirect motion of no confidence against the person he inveigled.
This assumes that there at least more than 30 amongst BN’s MPs not otherwise favourably disposed to the no. 2 taking over Pak Lah’s position, and that they would be at liberty to vote according to conscience free from the perpetual operation of the BN’s whip (discipline to vote on party’s/coalition’s line) alongside the 100% of PR’s MPs opposing Nazri’s motion!
This prospect is the longest of long shots, whatever one may say that in politics anything is possible, there’re no permament enemies or friends, and within 2 weeks anything can change!
If, in the case of Sivakumar’s decision to suspend Zamri & 6 others, the other side could apply to the court for declaration that the Perak’s Assembly Speaker’s decision is invalid or a nullity, then, can one – in this instance in respect of the imminent motion by Nazri against Gobind Singh Deo – also equally apply to court for declaration against the imminent Nazri’s motion based on either (1) Gobind shouldn’t be subject to double jeopardy as such a motion would unfairly place him in or (2) that the BN’s whip/party discipline should be suspended and stopped from being enforced when such a motion is debated and voted upon since it pertains to a matter that the BN’s Chief Party has a personal interest in, and therefore violate the rule against conflicts of interest???
Long shot also but just speculating in the absence of alternatives. :)
#12 by IbnAbdHalim on Saturday, 14 March 2009 - 11:23 pm
Well! Can PR reciprocate by rejecting the RM60billion budget? See who has the upper hand.
#13 by undergrad2 on Sunday, 15 March 2009 - 2:00 am
You fall foul of the rule against double jeopardy when you prosecute limkaput for soliciting and then for some reason he walks free. You then haul him back to court to face the same charge based on exactly the same facts. That is going against the rule against double jeopardy.
#14 by dawsheng on Sunday, 15 March 2009 - 5:25 am
Pakatan Rakyat should just boycott the parliament.
#15 by Black Arrow on Sunday, 15 March 2009 - 7:36 am
Pakatan Rakyat MPs should always be careful in what they say and not bring in irrelevant topics, otherwise this type of suspension is bound to happen often to Pakatan MPs. And if this happens it is bad as the number of Pakatan MPs will be reduced in Parliament.
#16 by boh-liao on Sunday, 15 March 2009 - 10:49 am
Sunday Star, 15.3.09: Adnan, Azalina hit out at Gobind
Several Umno leaders have lambasted Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo for alleging that Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak was involved in a murder case.
Now, the blood hounds are out in pack shuffling to declare their undying love to their in-coming boss and to score brownie points.
They are already shouting: The PM is dead. Long live the PM.
#17 by Loh on Sunday, 15 March 2009 - 5:18 pm
BN has the number to approve the suspension of MP MP Gobind Singh Deo. That may be the first and only case in commonwealth country where an MP is suspended for a year, for telling the parliament officially that the DPM has been rumoured to be associated with the murder of a foreigner, the national of Korea. MP Gobind and the citizens of the country know very well that the person who made statutory declaration about the possible involvement of Najib in the murder had to make any declaration to nullify the first one, and he has since disappeared, and it is not known whether he is still alive. Another person who wrote about the murder with a mention of Najib has to face court case. But Najib has yet not been investigated purely by the strength of a declaration he made in a mosque that he did not know the victim. The police and IGP has shown the world that it was active in investigating a police report of a sodomy case which was of interest to the two persons even if sodomy did take place, but the IGP did not consider it necessarily to investigate the motive of a murder case when Najib himself considered it important to make sworn statement in a mosque. The IGP would not declare that any sworn statement would be accepted without question to be truthful, and hence the court and the police would have spared a lot of efforts in solving criminal cases. The IGP is showing the world that it was adopting double standards when Najib’s sworn statement in the mosque is taken as gospel truth while others are not. Since MP Gobind would not be able to make IGP conduct investigation against Najib if he had also made a police report, he chose to say it in the parliament so that it would be on record that an important case has not been properly investigated. He was performing his duty as an elected official to voice his opinion in the august house when the most important issues of the country should find a place to be discussed. The BN government now is looking for an excuse to suspend MP Gobind by quoting that the case is being tried in the court, and any discussion could be sub judice.
The court case is in process where two persons had to answer charges for the act in causing the death of the victim. The prosecution has no case to pin them on their motive of the murder since they did not stand to gain from the death beyond the fact that it was a completion of an assignment. The discussion about possible culprits who had the motive to remove the victim would not affect the outcome of the trial, and would cast no aspersion on the capacity of the court.
Now that the case has been mentioned in the parliament, the House has now a duty to verify whether the statement made by MP Gobind was a careless wild accusations or was in fact a true whistle blowing. The proof would be to investigate the reliability of Goind’s statement. MP Gobind cannot be suspended based on number game through parliamentary dictatorship. IGP should be directed to conduct thorough investigating to present to the parliament a report on the case. If MP Gobind’s statement was groundless, he cannot escape punishment. He should be honoured for doing his duties as citizen if investigations find that the charge made by MP Gobind was reasonable but not amounting to a conviction of the suspect.
Najib is about to become PM. He should take his initiative to have the case thoroughly investigated to clear him of any perception of wrong doing. To silence the whistle blower in the parliament shows that he has indeed the intention to silence any critics who voice suspicion. There is no smoke without fire. He should put out the fire rather than trying to disperse the smoke.
If MP Gobind is suspended for a year, curiosity of the need for such harsh treatment of an MP would make the story go round the world. It only proves that Najib should not be PM if he intends to swear again in parliament rather than to allow rule of law to prevail. Unless IGP gives him a clean record after investigation, Najib has extended police state into the parliament with suspension of MP Gobind.
#18 by boh-liao on Sunday, 15 March 2009 - 5:57 pm
A desperate man is worried that a straw will break the camel’s back. So the guy who is going to add the last straw before breaking the camel’s back must be ejected.
#19 by lopez on Sunday, 15 March 2009 - 9:39 pm
you bang him and people like him, hurt them in any way you like…from the manifestation of the cruelty, unfairness and the ills from your inner intentions…..
ironically, it has never for any bit showed you have been unbias but just proved your arrogance and the selfishness and most of all the sadist in you and your followers
cheers
#20 by undergrad2 on Monday, 16 March 2009 - 1:37 am
When Limkaput having solicited sex from a boy A and is then charged for soliciting and lewd conduct etc and is found guility and sentenced to five years in jail, is later charged for a similar offence with boy B at the same time and place, that is not double jeopardy.
#21 by ChinNA on Monday, 16 March 2009 - 1:38 am
How much pay will Gobind lose?
Or is it that more will be lost because a vote in Parliament is lost?
#22 by ChinNA on Monday, 16 March 2009 - 1:40 am
Did limkapmut solicited sex from a boy A. Can this be true?
Wow!
#23 by undergrad2 on Monday, 16 March 2009 - 7:32 am
Yes, for years now and everybody knows it. You must be new.
#24 by flyer168 on Monday, 16 March 2009 - 10:12 am
Dear YB LKS,
What is new in this Bolehland.
With 13 days to the “Assumed D-Day”, Fat Mama is already making “Her Agenda & Preparations”, “Instructing”….
Wannabe & ALL their Mercenary Slaves to get ALL “Rivals & Obstructors”….
“Locked up, Missing-in-action, Kidnapped & maybe…C4ed”.
Mahathir’s greatest regret….he should have done the DSAI “Ploy” to this “Wannabe” & his Mama when he was the last PM…Sad!!!
Haven’t PM Wannabe & Mama done enough damage & frustrated YB Gobind at the RPK/Altantuya court charades & in Parliament….only to be “belittled” again & again by the Speaker & the UMNO/BN Ketuanan beggars?
My take is that the UMNO/BN Ketuanan beggars & their Mecenary “Slaves” kept “Provoking” the young YB Gobind into this “Trap” to get him out of the way….too close for Wannabe & Mama’s “Comfort?”
Desperate People, at Desperate Times, will RESORT to Desperate Henious Actions even if it means “Destroying” their “Honourable Family Legacy”, All our Pillars of Democracy, Justice, our Monarchy, ALL our Nation’s Institutions, their own “MALAY MUSLIM HADHARI” party “UMNO”, their Own Kind, this country & its Many People!
The “Opressors” will “FAIL” & God Almighty will ensure “Justice” will be done.
“Devine Intervention” works “Wonders”….& they are their own “Worst Enemies.”
Every new day will be another “New Revelation” to reveal the “Truth” in UMNO/BN Self Destruct motion towards its “Demise”.
Just give them enough rope to “Hang” themselves at every turn in their “Final” chapter – Past, Present & Future.
All our prayers to God Almighty seeking “Truth, Justice, Equality & Freedom ” will be answered.
#25 by undergrad2 on Monday, 16 March 2009 - 11:43 pm
ChinNA Says:
Today at 01: 40.43 (22 hours ago)
Did limkapmut solicited sex from a boy A. Can this be true? Wow!”
Those who know limkaput know this to be true.
#26 by choonchoy on Tuesday, 17 March 2009 - 1:53 am
“Mein Kampf”!!?! Like Sr. like Jr.