‘Shouting’ reps expelled from hall
> Two ordered to leave after ignoring calls from speaker to calm down
GEORGE TOWN: The Penang assembly began yesterday on a fiery start after two elected representatives were expelled from the hall.
Speaker Datuk Law Choo Kiang ejected R.S.N. Rayer (DAP-Seri Delima) and Datuk Shah Headan Ayub Hussain Shah (BN-Teluk Bahang) after both engaged in a shouting match and ignored repeated calls to calm down.
According to Shah Headan, the incident was sparked after Rayer allegedly said BN treated women like sex objects.
“How can you say that? I have a mother, a wife, a daughter. Such things should not be raised, why not touch on issues regarding Penang?” Shah Headan said when met outside the hall.
Rayer later said he was referring to Federal Territories Minister Datuk Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, who reportedly told women to dress shabbily to avoid being sexually assaulted. He was also commenting on the remarks made by Tasek Gelugor MP Datuk Shahbudin Yahaya in Parliament earlier this year on rapists marrying their victims.
Earlier, Law rejected a motion proposing Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng to resign after he was charged with graft and abuse of power, as proposed by state opposition leader Datuk Jahara Hamid (BN-Teluk Air Tawar).
Law said the ruling bloc (Pakatan Harapan) has already made its stand clear that Lim did not have to go on leave.
The motion by Datuk Muhamad Farid Saad that Penang civil servants and administration members should go on leave when they were charged for crimes was also rejected. Law said such matters were already covered in existing procedures in the civil service regulations by the Prime Minister’s Department as well as provisions in the Penang Constitution. The regulations already outlined what action can be taken in the various stages of any disciplinary action being undertaken.