Knocking some sense into Parliament

In the days of yore, the mace we often saw carried by the Sergeant-at-arms before the Parliament speaker had a more practical and less than ceremonial function.

It was to be wielded to knock out and silence unruly members of the assembly.

As history tells it, the maces are actual weapons of Sergeants-at-arms who are to protect the body of the sovereign or anyone presiding over an assembly.

However, as time rolled on and people grew civilised (mostly), the mace began to lose its practical usage as a tool to enforce authority to turn into an ornamental and decorative symbol of it instead.

This tradition harks back to ancient Rome, when magistrates who presided over assemblies were accorded escorts of a special class of civil servants called Lictors.

The Lictors carried rods and axes, using the rods to beat back unruly mobs or assemblypersons and the axes to execute those that the magistrate have so condemned.

Saddest day but more to come?

But either Lictors with rods and axes or Sergeants-at-arms with maces, both are something which our parliament sorely needs, if yesterday's pandemonium in the House is any indication.

We need to knock some sense back into our parliament, the opposition, the ruling coalition as well as the right honourable presiding officers of the Dewan.

As deputy speaker of the House Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar himself puts it, "I had just witnessed the saddest day in Parliament's history."

That and more, we have witnessed indeed.

While Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia's re-emergence in the House after his leave of absence for a heart operation has subdued things somewhat, all hell broke loose scarcely two days into his return to parliament.

This is despite the hard line stance that Pandikar and his deputies had started to enforce upon the burgeoningly unruly Malaysian parliament, which had embarrassed itself time and time again before visitors and schoolchildren present there.

Nit-picking order of the day

Most, losing their awe of our august legislative body after the seemingly respectable parliamentarians start to open their big mouths.

All the "Welcome back Speaker" remarks and well wishes seem to be for naught as both sides of the aisle erupted into chaos yesterday over matters relating to a motion to drag Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim before the powerful Rights and Privileges Committee for his Apco-1Malaysia-One Israel jibe and nit picking over Standing Orders.

The straw that broke the camel's back was the oft heard childish "Apco-Umno" jibes of Mahfuz Omar (PAS-Pokok Sena) , whose self appointed role as class clown belies his stature as the vice president of an Islamic party, veteran politician and an elected member of the House who holds the public trust in his duly elected hands.

The House having descended into the lowest of the low yesterday, with an abrupt suspension and the discordant cries of "Apco-Umno" filling it to the rafters.

But he is not alone in this, a whole slew of Pakatan MPs has more than earned the title of nitpicking nannies and rowdy rascals who not only demonstrated a lack of polish but also an unhealthy love for useless broken record banter.

Cheering on chaos

Among these are Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur), Khalid Samad (PAS-Shah Alam), N Gobalakrishnan (PKR-Padang Serai) and newly anointed member of the troupe Gwo-Burne Loh (PKR-Kelana Jaya).

Disturbingly, rather than taking stock of themselves and their duty to the people, the Pakatan parliamentarians led by Mahfuz (left) congratulated and patted Loh on the back for rising to the occasion.

Loh joked that he had to do so to replace Gobalakrishnan who was not present yesterday.

On this dark day in parliament, they laughed, cheered and vowed to fight on and continue their opposition to BN's dominance over the House, as if their duty as a responsible opposition was to bicker and nit-pick on points of order, instead of soldiering on for real issues that matter to the country and its people.

However the blame lies not solely with Pakatan, it lies heavy upon the other side of the aisle as well.

Many BN backbenchers specialise in the elegant art of baiting and provoking opposition parliamentarians.

Chief among these are the four headed hydra of Abdul Rahman Dahlan (BN-Kota Belud), Tajuddin Abdul Rahman (BN-Pasir Salak), Bung Mokhtar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan) and Mohamad Aziz (BN-Sri Gading).

While sometimes the Pakatan MPs really seem to let things get out of hand, it is more often then not, the outcome and byproduct of the provocative acts of the BN parliamentarians, as Abdul Rahman himself puts it, these are the bola tanggung delivered in tandem to set up a jibe to rile the other side.

Three-ring circus

While he made this remark, rightly so, to describe a three-ring circus act being delivered by Pakatan in chiming in questions to 'clarify' certain matters and heat up the discussion, he and his BN backbencher buddies are themselves grandmasters of this bola tanggung act.

But to be fair to Pakatan, it is true to say that there is a slightly perceptible leaning of the decisions that the presiding officers have ruled on.

Bung Mokhtar and Tajuddin for example had been spared the lash over uttering questionable remarks.

They got off the hook when the presiding officer asked them if their remarks were made with bad intentions and accepted their rather weak reply.

In comparison, Mahfuz's eloquent protestations that his "Umno-Apco" remark had no negative connotations was not accepted.

This paints a lopsided picture, though the truth can only be known by the those in the know.

While the decision of the speaker and his deputies cannot be questioned, they do beg mention.

It is probably time that the presiding officers, the opposition and ruling coalition be given a gentle knock to remind them of their duties.

They should know that the mace which symbolises parliament's authority actually represents the people's authority, whom they are beholden to and must serve, instead of the other way around.

They should learn this, or else we need to knock up parliament and rough it up a bit, using the mace of popular vote to unseat errant MPs from their elected perch and throw them down onto the harsh reality of the ground below.