A SHOUTING match between Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional lawmakers over Noh Omar’s three-day suspension from the meeting only ended when Deputy Speaker Mohd Rashid Hasnon adjourned the sitting for lunch.

The boisterous exchange was witnessed by Singapore Speaker Tan Chuan Jin and his delegation during their visit to Parliament.

The chaos began when Noh (BN-Tg Karang) defied Deputy Speaker Nga Kor Ming’s decision to bar him from the chamber for three days.

But Noh decided it could not go challenged as he was not present when the decision was made and entered the chamber 15 minutes before the lunch break at 1pm.

As he started to speak, Rashid told Noh that he had been suspended and should leave the chamber immediately.

“But how can I be suspended when I was not in the house?” Noh shot back, as Tan’s delegation watched the proceedings.

“Has the Singapore speaker seen an occurrence where an MP is sanctioned in absentia?” he asked, playing up to the gallery.

At this juncture, Fahmi Fadzil (PH-Lembah Pantai) stood up to read a rule in the standing orders, noting that the speaker’s decision is final in the house.

When he finished, Ahmad Maslan (BN-Pontian) stood up to shout: “Gelang Patah (former MP Lim Kit Siang) has also done this before”.

In the March meeting a year ago, then Gelang Patah MP, Lim Kit Siang, also refused to leave Dewan Rakyat despite being ordered to leave the house.

During the tabling of Election Commission’s re-delineation report on March 29, Lim asked why speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia had embargoed the report.

Pandikar refused to answer Lim and ordered the latter to sit down. But Lim refused and Pandikar ordered the sergeant-at-arms to remove Lim to no avail.

After the lunch break, Lim returned to the house and stayed on until the vote at 5.20pm. However, as he was suspended, his vote was not taken into account.

Lim was subsequently suspended for another six months for failing to adhere to the speaker’s orders.

But this did not stop PH backbenchers demanding Noh leave, as the former housing and local government minister accused PH of not respecting the rule of law.

“Where was my chance to defend myself? Where’s my natural justice?”

But Rashid stood his ground and ordered the sergeant-of-arms and his team to escort Noh out.

But Noh stood his ground, as backbenchers from both sides traded barbs for 10 minutes even after Rashid adjourned the meeting for lunch. – March 19, 2019.