PARLIAMENT The Dewan Rakyat today bulldozed through a motion to suspend Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Gelang Patah) for six months over a speech for which he was allegedly in contempt of Dewan Rakyat speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia.

The motion was passed with a majority of 30 votes in a bloc vote, with 107 BN lawmakers for and 77 MPs against.

Lim himself abstained from voting.

"Bye-bye," said Lim after his fate was sealed and BN representatives, including Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Shahidan Kassim, were seen waving goodbye to him.

"Goodbye," replied Ronald Kiandee, the deputy speaker.

Lim, in his five-minute opportunity to explain, reiterated that he did not commit contempt of Parliament or insult Pandikar.

He, however, said he was confident that if there was a referendum, the rakyat would say the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) probe into 1MDB was sabotaged.

He urged the MPs to read the Hansard to find out if his statement was in contempt of the speaker, adding they were shallow and ignorant for not understanding his context when he spoke on Monday.

"I am now the latest victim of the 1MDB monster disease," he said and went on to name 15 people similarly victimised, including former deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin and ex-minister Shafie Apdal.

"Let my suspension be a lesson to the rakyat that they need to wake up and that BN-Umno should be toppled," he said.

The motion to suspend Lim was brought under Section 27(3) of the Standing Orders by Azalina Othman Said (photo) , the minister overseeing parliamentary affairs.

'Speaker abused power'

In his speech, Lim had accused the speaker of abusing his power to sabotage the PAC's hearing into 1MDB.

Lim had said the speaker had no powers under the Standing Orders to postpone PAC hearings and in doing so, had abused his power.

The opposition objected to the motion to suspend Lim, arguing that Section 27(3) was merely a procedural provision and could not be used to suspend a lawmaker,

Gobind Singh Deo (DAP-Puchong) urged that the matter be dealt with under Section 80 of the Standing Orders, where a Rights and Privileges Committee would hear the issue.

The deputy speaker argued for the motion as the speaker, who accepted it, was satisfied that the requirement for the motion was fulfilled.

The speaker had even taken the element of public interest when accepting the motion, said Kiandee (BN-Beluran).

Azalina in the motion said Lim's accusation was an insult to the speaker and to the Dewan Rakyat proceedings.

"Thus, it is agreed upon that the Gelang Patah parliamentarian Lim Kit Siang should be suspended for six months from the date the motion is set," she said.

'Not by such animal'

Azalina also took a swipe at Lim, saying that he had four days to retract his statement and he was not willing to do that.

"Thus, the government has no choice but to submit the motion." she said.

Earlier, Ramkarpal Singh (DAP-Bukit Gelugor) [photo] implied that his political opponents were 'animals'.

"The motion was tabled by people like that. Don't we have a special provision - Section 80 of the Standing Orders - to give Gelang Patah (MP) the right to be heard, (and) not by such animals?" he said.

He, however, was later forced to retract the word following protests by BN representatives.

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