DEWAN Rakyat speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul had to endure hard-hitting insults from at least four Perikatan Nasional (PN) top brass before the entire opposition camp staged a walk-out from the August House in protest against his insistence that the six Bersatu ‘traitor’ MPs can keep their seats.

The protest started with an argument by Bersatu chip whip Datuk Seri Dr. Ronald Kiandee (PN-Beluran) who questioned the validity of Johari’s decision by recalling his own statement when debating the Anti-Party Hopping Act presented in the Dewan Rakyat in 2022.

Johari was then the PKR Sungai Petani MP had stated that this law would prevent members of parliament from jumping parties and “further destroying (menjahanamkan) the country.

Former UMNO warlord Datuk Seri Dr Shahidan Kassim (PN-Arau) had wanted to refer Johari to the Rights and Privileges Committee for attempting to interpret the law which should be the job of the Federal Court.

“We therefore want you to reflect on your action to perhaps retract what has happened lest a legal process would ensue,” argued the PAS Central Committee member.

The opposition’s chip whip Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan (PN-Kota Bharu) then stood up to question whether the same decision would have been taken by Johari if unity government MPs had wanted to pull put their support for Anwar and instead back the opposition.

Saving the best for the last, Bersatu secretary-general Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin (PN-Larut) who led the walk-out claimed that it was his prerogative as the party’s secretary-general to determine whether any Bersatu member had ceased to be one - not that of the Dewan Rakyat speaker,

According to Hamzah, Johari should have emulated the Kelantan state assembly speaker who declared vacant the Nenggiri state seat after Bersatu found its incumbent Mohd Azizi Abu Naim had ceased to be a party member.

“I want to let the speaker know that this decision is wrong. You have to be non-partisan here,” he lashed out at Johari who was presiding the session.

After the walkout, the opposition MPs held a media conference where they continued to lambast Johari’s decision.

This was when Takiyuddin who is also the PAS secretary-general announced that the opposition camp would start wearing white armbands to Parliament next week as a sign of protest.

Johari who was seemingly left speechless by the walkout, responded to PN’s criticisms by asserting that he was “not a postman”.

“I am not a postman. When I received what had been given to me, I made sure, I made sure that I studied everything,” he said in response to a media statement by Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin on Wednesday (July 10) that the party would appoint legal experts to uphold the Federal Constitution and Bersatu’s own constitution.

“I read everything about the amendment on Article 49A (of the Federal Constitution). I affirm my decision that the seats were not made vacant as I have informed Beluran,” added Johari. - July 12, 2024

https://focusmalaysia.my/final-straw-against-speaker-for-not-vacating-seats-of-6-bersatu-turncoat-mps-before-walk-out-protest-by-opposition-mps/