DEWAN Rakyat Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia has denied any abuse of power in deferring debates on the RUU355 bill to the next Parliament seating.

He said he came to the decision after taking into the consideration the previous day’s Dewan Rakyat seating which continued until 5am.

“After RUU bill was explained by Marang MP Abdul Hadi Awang, the next course of action was to get it debated but… before this the (previous day’s) seating was until 5am and my deputy and I, we were here to continue with the seating. How can we carry out our duties after that, especially on a bill as important as this?”

He said that the explanation given during the tabling of RUU355 motion was sufficient.

“After hearing it during the seating and supported by Kota Bharu (MP Takiyuddin Hassan) only then I understood what RUU355 is all about. It is good actually if the public get to know about it first and to allow it to be debated in the next session and have a really good debate on it,” he said.

He added he did nothing against the law by postponing the debate.

According to other MPs who spoke to The Malaysian Insight on April 6, the motion cannot “continue to be debated” in the next sitting and is as good as “dead”.

He admitted that there were those who were not happy with his decision but he cannot appease everyone.

“What I did was within my power to stop or continue the session,” he said.

Pandikar was speaking to the media in Shah Alam today after attending the State Assemblies and Parliament speakers conference officiated by the Sultan of Selangor Sharafuddin Idris Shah.

Pandikar on April 6 deferred debates on PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang’s Private Member’s Bill, also known as RUU355, to the next Parliament sitting.

His decision drew loud protests from Opposition lawmakers who felt they were denied an opportunity to debate the Bill as Kota Baru PAS MP Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan was the sole lawmaker given a chance to speak in support of the Bill.

Pandikar, in making his ruling, said he was not bound by Standing Order 15, in respect of government bills.

“I would like to quote these words from a certain politician. He said, ‘if you are in power, you are powerful. If you don’t use your power, you are a bloody fool’.

“Therefore, I would like to use my power to defer the debates until the next session,” he said.

Standing Order 15 states that on every sitting day government business shall have precedence over Private Members business.

The last of the government bills were debated and passed at 5am Thursday. – May 13, 2017.