PENDANG lawmaker Awang Hashim was ejected from parliament today for failing to retract his remark about Speaker Johari Abdul showing favouritism to his son Taufiq Johari (Sungai Petani-PH) when approving emergency motions.

The Perikatan Nasional (PN) lawmaker also said Taufiq was getting his way in the chamber as he was “anak papa” (father’s boy).

Awang made the comment when Shahidan Kassim (Arau-PN) asked Deputy Speaker Alice Lau why his motion submitted on Tuesday was still pending a decision, while a motion Taufiq submitted yesterday was approved today.

The remark clearly did not go down well among backbenchers, with RSN Rayer (Jelutong-PH), P. Prabakaran (Batu-PH), R. Yuneswaran (Segamat-PH) and Mohd Sany Hamzan (Hulu Langat-PH) urging the deputy speaker to instruct Awang to retract his remarks.

Lau then ordered Awang, a former deputy minister, to retract his remarks, but the latter refused to do so, fuelling backbenchers’ anger by standing his ground and declaring everyone was “anak papa”.

“Since he refuses (to retract the remark), Pendang is welcome to take a break until after lunch,” Lau ordered.

Earlier, Alice told the Dewan Rakyat that Johari had approved Taufiq’s motion to debate the issue of a rice factory in Kedah being seized over suspicion of hiding 180 tonnes of local white rice. – October 12, 2023.