Surendran suspension 'against Standing Orders'

The six-month suspension of Padang Serai MP N Surendran from the Dewan Rakyat was “overkill” and contravened the House's Standing Orders, NGO Lawyers for Liberty says.

By not adhering to the standing orders, it said, Dewan Rakyat Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia (left) had acted in “self-interest” as he had an “axe to grind” following Surendran's comments against him.

Among procedures it alleged were contravened were:

The motion brought by the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department did not specify what provision it was being made under.

“(This) should have been fatal and rejected outright by the speaker (especially for such a serious matter).

“But the speaker not only accepted it but went on to explain on behalf of the Prime Minister's Department that it was done under Rule 27,” Lawyers for Liberty founder Eric Paulsen said.

The motion was submitted at 6pm on Nov 13 and tabled the next day at 11.30am, in less than 24 hours.

Under Rule 27(3), only a motion involving public interest can be brought with 24 hour's notice.

Paulsen said that this was in contradiction with the speaker's strictness on the 48-hour suspension period earlier meted out to Surendran.

This too, Paulsen said, contravened Rule 44(2), which states that the 48-hour period is inclusive of the day of the incident of suspension.

There was no debate or definition of why the matter was considered “public interest”.

“The use of Rule 27 in this case is clearly erroneous and a serious conflict of interest as the motion is presented to the speaker for his deliberation when the speaker’s position is itself the subject of the motion,” he said.

Surendran was not brought before the Rights and Privileges Committee, under Rule 80, but his fate was “summarily executed by BN parliamentarians” who believed Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor's version of events regarding the temple demolition “wholesale”.

“This harsh and overkill reaction, a serious blow to democracy, sends a dangerous and chilling message to the opposition...

“(This message is) that the opposition can only voice its dissent at the risk of serious repercussions and BN can and will abuse its majority votes if the opposition were to overstep its 'boundaries',” Paulsen said.

Surendran was yesterday suspended for 48 hours for trying to raise the issue of the demolition of the annexures of the Sri Muneswarar Kalyamman Temple on Jalan P Ramlee in Kuala Lumpur.

He was, at an earlier sitting, booted out of the Dewan Rakyat for trying to raise issue of the death in custody of P Karuna Nithi.