KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 11 — DAP’s Jelutong MP RSN Rayer was booted out of the Dewan Rakyat today after refusing to take his seat as ordered by Deputy Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said.
Azalina had asked Rayer to take his seat as she wanted to make a ruling on remarks made by Progressive Democratic Party’s (PDP) Bintulu MP Datuk Tiong King Sing about the Health director-general purportedly “being afraid of dying” (takut mati).
“How am I going to make a ruling if you are standing up? Sit down! Jelutong, sit down!” Azalina said repeatedly, as she urged Rayer to take his seat before continuing with her ruling on Tiong’s remarks to the Dewan Rakyat today.
However, after her multiple requests went unheeded, Azalina ordered the sergeant-of-arms to escort Rayer from Parliament.
“Keluar, keluar (Get out, get out) Jelutong,” she said, as MPs chimed in and echoed her calls.
Rayer, in reacting to Tiong’s remarks, had asked Azalina to make a ruling to get the Bintulu MP to issue a retraction. This had triggered a shouting match among MPs from across the floor.
Tiong, while debating the Budget 2021 Bill, had claimed that Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah hardly visited his constituency during the Covid-19 period. He then wondered aloud if the latter feared death and if that was the reason for his absence.
Inferring that perhaps this is a sign of weakness at the Health Ministry, Tiong, who is also PDP president, asked if Dr Noor Hisham’s task was merely to read the news on a daily basis.
“This D-G, what does he do every day? Reading the news only? What is he doing?
“If it was just reading the news, even the office boy can do it,” said Tiong.
He also asked why the D-G has yet to meet frontliners in Sabah despite it being a Covid-19 hotspot.
“Don’t just send people there as though ‘that person isn’t afraid to die but the D-G is afraid to die’.
“Even the deputy D-G isn’t there. What is happening?” he asked as he pressed on with his questions.
Rayer then stood up to chastise Tiong, saying that he was insulting Dr Noor Hisham.
“Respect the D-G. Don’t insult the D-G. Please respect him.
“Speaker, please do not allow him to insult the D-G; the D-G is a frontliner.
“Speaker, I ask for Bintulu to retract his statement saying that the D-G is afraid to die. I will not allow him to insult the D-G,” said Rayer.
The Bintulu MP however insisted that Dr Noor Hisham was in fact afraid of dying.
Umno’s Arau MP Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim had by this time also stood up to defend Tiong, indicating that he had not yet finished speaking.
In the heated exchange, with microphones already muted, Shahidan attempted to divert the argument by asking DAP to apologise to the D-G, accusing the Opposition party of insulting government servants.
Azalina however left it for Tiong to decide if he would like to offer an explanation for his remarks or apologise, while reminding him that he only had a little over five minutes to do so.
Tiong then defended himself, saying that he was merely voicing people’s grouses.
“Retract what? Even the frontliners say the D-G has not gone to visit them.
“These are the people’s voices, what’s wrong?
“It’s not that I’m cursing him to die. I only asked if it was because he was afraid to die and decided to send other people instead of himself to the ground.
“Is that wrong?” he said.
Standing Order 36(9) was then raised by PKR’s Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Abdul Karim, who suggested that the deputy Dewan Rakyat Speaker make a ruling.
“Bintulu spoke about the D-G. This falls under Standing Order 36(9),” he said.
His suggestion was also echoed by DAP’s Bukit Gelugor MP Ramkarpal Singh who warned that without a ruling, Tiong’s remarks would go unaddressed.
“A ruling must be done to find out if what Bintulu said is allowed because based on that ruling, we can take further action, or even Bintulu could take further action.
“This matter cannot be left unattended to without a ruling,” he said.
Azalina however asserted that she had already made a ruling and that was to let Tiong offer an explanation.
“I have already made a ruling for Bintulu to make a decision.
“He said he will give an explanation and I have accepted it,” she said.
