ALMOST all Perikatan Nasional (PN) lawmakers walked out of the Dewan Rakyat today after Mohd Radzi Md Jidin (Putrajaya-PN) was ejected by speaker Johari Abdul.

Radzi was told to leave after he persistently aired his frustration over the speaker’s decision not to ask Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to retract his statement, after the latter had taken a swipe at the Putrajaya MP.

Anwar, while explaining the attorney-general’s decision to grant the discharge not amounting to acquittal to Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in his corruption trial, was irked when he saw Radzi laughing.

“Larut (Hamzah Zainudin) asked what I discussed (with the attorney-general) because my answer (to a question) in Singapore was on what I discussed.

“When the attorney-general made the decision, I asked him. Yes. But I did not discuss his decision, I asked him for justification, for clarification,” Anwar said.

Taking a glance at Radzi, who was laughing at Anwar’s explanation, the Tambun lawmaker launched a scathing attack: “You can laugh but you are laughing, Putrajaya, because you did that. During (PN) administration you did that,” he said.

An annoyed Radzi immediately stood up and asked the speaker to order Anwar to retract his statement.

This resulted in a shouting match between the government backbenchers and the opposition, and the entire parliament descended into chaos. 

Hamzah, who is also the opposition leader, politely asked Anwar to retract the statement made against Radzi and continue his winding-up speech on the 12th Malaysia Plan mid-term review. 

Johari then said even he did not clearly understand what Anwar was trying to convey and asked him to explain clearly by what he meant, to which the prime minister said “corrupt practices were applied during PN’s administration”. 

This drew an immediate response from the opposition and also Radzi, who claimed the prime minister was spinning his statement. 

“Why is the prime minister defending things that are not true and twisting his answer (when I told him to withdraw the statement)?

“The issue is very straightforward and he only needed to withdraw his statement,” Radzi said in protest citing Standing Order 36(6) of the House for having ill intention.

The argument lasted close to 30 minutes, as Radzi continued to press the speaker to request Anwar to retract his statement, saying he has to defend his dignity over such false accusations. 

This prevented Anwar from continuing his winding-up speech. 

Johari then ordered Radzi to leave the house, which was not taken lightly by PN lawmakers. 

“Putrajaya wants to defend his dignity over such blatant accusations but if he is asked to leave, then it gives us no choice but to leave together,” Hamzah said. 

Following the ejection, only Ketereh (Khlir Mohd Nor) and Muar (Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman) remained in the House. – September 19, 2023.