SPEAKER Pandikar Amin Mulia today ignored Lim Kit Siang’s presence in the Dewan Rakyat who after suspending the DAP parliamentary leader from the house for six months yesterday.

When asked by Che Mohamad Zulkifly Jusoh (BN-Setiu) to act against Lim (DAP-Gelang Patah) for attending the sitting today despite the suspension, Pandikar said he was “turning a blind eye”.

“I have said before that my option is to ask the police to come in and remove the member, but I don’t want to do that because I don’t want the foreign media to see that the Malaysian Parliament has no manners.

“The speaker and his deputies, we can turn a blind eye, we don’t see the person who has been ordered out,” Pandikar said.

“I don’t see Gelang Patah because if I see him I will have to order him to leave (Dewan Rakyat) again,” he said, despite Lim’s presence in the Dewan Rakyat.

Yesterday, Lim was suspended for six months for causing a disturbance when Prime Minister Najib Razak was about to table the Electoral Commission’s constituency re-delineation report. 

After ignoring Lim, Pandikar proceeded with the sitting despite Lim continuing to question the suspension. 

Lim was also ignored by Urban Wellbeing and Local Government Minister Noh Omar who tabled a bill. 

Noh called Lim a ghost.

“I hear a voice but I don’t see anyone, because a ghost cannot understand simple instructions,” he said. 

This created a ruckus when M. Kulasegaran (DAP-Ipoh Barat) objected to Noh’s remark and asked him to retract it. 

Pandikar ignored the outcry by opposition MPs and ordered that proceedings continue until lunch.

At a press conference later, Lim said despite being in the Dewan, he was ignored by the speaker and officials. 

“They are completely ignoring me. It seems I have turned myself into a parliamentary ghost. It is a serious reflection on Umno and BN.” 

DAP parliamentary whip Anthony Loke said the motion against Lim did not stand as there was not even a vote.

“As far as we are concerned, the motion to suspend Kit Siang was never passed. If it were never passed, he was never suspended in the first place,” the Seremban lawmaker said. – March 29, 2018.