What happened today is the most disgraceful episode and worst blot on the Malaysian Parliament in the nation’s 55 year history.

It all stemmed from the mistake made by the Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin who had rejected an amendment motion by the three Pakatan Rakyat (PR) Members of Parliament on the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on electoral reform, Loke Siew Fook (Rasah), Mohamed Azmin (Gombak) and Dr. Mohd Hatta (Kuala Krai) seeking to incorporate a minority report into the PSC final report tabled in Parliament yesterday.

After the PSC Chairman Datuk Maximus Ongkili moved the motion on the PSC report after question time, Loke stood up to object to the Speaker’s rejection in chambers of the amendment motion by the three PR MPs.

Pandikar quoted Parliamentary precedents from New Zealand and the United Kingdom and said there is no such thing as a “minority report”. Read the rest of this entry »