THE ruckus Noh Omar raised over his suspension from the Dewan Rakyat was aimed at drawing rural voters’ attention, said Federal Territories Minister Khalid Abdul Samad.

“This is what is known as ‘playing to the gallery’. They want to look like heroes for village folk, for them to see that they are defending Malay and Islamic rights.

“But this is inappropriate, and I hope they will play a more constructive role to improve the administration,” he told reporters at the Parliament lobby today.

Noh, who is Tanjung Karang MP, was suspended for three days by Deputy Speaker Nga Kor Ming for bringing the House into disrepute.

During a debate on Monday, Noh said Nga is unfit to be deputy speaker.

The MP yesterday continued to challenge the suspension, refusing to leave the Dewan Rakyat. This led to a shouting match in the House, witnessed by visiting Singapore Speaker Tan Chuan Jin and his delegation.

Noh left the Dewan Rakyat only after Speaker Mohamed Ariff Md Yusof upheld Nga’s ruling.

Khalid said the Barisan Nasional-led opposition is different from when Pakatan Harapan was in the opposition.

“When we were the opposition, we had no experience in government and had no access to information.

“The opposition today comprises former ministers and deputy ministers, and they know the situation.

“They should come up with arguments to improve the budget and allocations, and not sensationalise and be provocative in Parliament,” said the Shah Alam MP.

“We used to provoke them, too. But it was to obtain information.

“Instead of sensationalising certain issues, they should be a more constructive opposition by suggesting improvements to the budget or allocations for the needy.” – March 20, 2019.