Nizar, Pakatan MPs thrown out after his swearing in

KUALA LUMPUR— Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin was thrown out of Parliament moments after he was sworn in this morning as the new Bukit Gantang MP.

He had led Pakatan Rakyat (PR) MPs in chants of “Hidup rakyat (long live the people)” and “Bubar DUN (dissolve the assembly)” as soon as the swearing-in ceremony ended, with some of them seen wearing headbands with the words "Bubar Dun".

Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia, who was annoyed by the Perak lawmakers, asked Nizar, M. Kulasegaran, Ngeh Koo Ham and Nga Kor Ming to leave the House, after they refused to remove the headbands.

“Please remove the cloths. That is not part of our uniform,” he had said.

As more MPs joined in to protest the action of the Speaker, Datuk Mahfuz Omar (Pokok Sena), N. Gobalakrishnan (Padang Serai), Teo Nie Ching (Serdang), were also asked to leave.

Pandikar later refused to deliver the customary welcoming speech, saying that Nizar had misbehaved.

“Traditionally after an MP is sworn in, the Speaker's job is to welcome the new member, and in the welcoming speech, the Speaker will speak of his hope that the new member will be able to contribute to the House,” Pandikar told the House.

“But this morning I find it difficult to say that, look at the behaviour of the member who was a mentri besar. I don't care how you behave outside the House, but inside the Parliament please watch your behaviour. And because of this I will not deliver my welcoming address,” he added.

Speaking to reporters at the Parliament lobby, Nizar said that Barisan Nasional (BN) was hypocritical as Parliament was sitting while the Perak assembly is in crisis.

“In my oath I said that I will defend the constitution therefore I asked for permission from the Speaker to inform the members on the constitution which has been sidelined in Perak,” said Nizar.

However, the Speaker did not have time to consider his request before Nizar began the chants.

Mahfuz also pointed out that former Speaker, the late Tun Zahir Ismail, had allowed anti-ISA armband during the 10th Parliament session.

Several Perak PR assemblymen were also present to show support to the ousted Perak mentri besar who was asked to step down by the Perak Sultan last February despite asking for fresh polls.

Nizar won the Bukit Gantang seat in April in a by-election seen as a referendum on the takeover of the state government by BN through defections.

A relatively unknown politician until his appointment as mentri besar last year, Nizar early this month was voted into the PAS central working committee and obtained the highest number of votes. (TMI)