KUALA LUMPUR, March 28 — Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia said today he will only decide on Kota Melaka MP Sim Tong Him’s seating position in the Dewan Rakyat once he receives notice from the DAP on the lawmaker’s membership status.

The Speaker confirmed to reporters that so far, he has only received Sim’s letter regarding his yearlong suspension from the party in February, but can only decide what to do next once the party notifies him on the matter.

“I have not received a letter from the party. I only have received a letter from Kota Melaka saying he’s been suspended.

“But I cannot act on the letter from Kota Melaka alone unless I receive another letter from the party. I have to put both in front of me first, then I will decide,” Pandikar told repeaters outside the Dewan Rakyat lobby.

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Pandikar then sarcastically said he might consider placing Sim right beside him near the Speaker’s podium.

“What is the problem whether he sit in front or back or whatever? I will decide where to put him, maybe I’ll put him right in front, beside me,” he said.

Earlier today, Sim revealed that he had received a suspension letter from DAP in February and he had written to Pandikar to seek clarification on his seating position in the House.

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“I had written to the Speaker on the first day I attended Parliament for this session and explained that my party membership has been suspended for a year to see what the Speaker will arrange in terms of the seating.

“The seating remained the same and he openly told me that the decision was up to the party. He told me, ‘only if the party says you are independent, then you are’,” Sim told reporters.

He also urged his party to clarify his position and if he would still be able to continue his duties as a Kota Melaka representative for the DAP.

“It’s either you tell me I am now an independent or you keep me in the party.

“Now you suspend me, but when I say I am not a DAP parliamentarian, they ask me who gave me the right to say that, so I am neither here nor there,” Sim said.

In the Malacca state legislative assembly earlier, it was reported that the House was notified that DAP’s Duyong assemblyman Goh Leong San, who was suspended along with Sim in February, is now an independent lawmaker.

“I received a letter from DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng on this matter,” Malacca Speaker Datuk Othman Muhamad was quoted saying in a Bernama report.

Later, however, Malacca state opposition leader Khoo Poay Tiong refuted this, saying that Lim’s letter merely said announced Goh’s replacement as opposition leader.

The DAP disciplinary committee had issued the one-year suspension from this February 7 against Goh and Sim, for allegedly disparaging the party through a court case against another party member.

In February, Sim reportedly said he and Goh had decided against appealing the suspension within the allocated 14-day period, claiming that the disciplinary action was based on feelings of animosity over a personal conflict blown up into a bigger issue.