"Sandiwara" in the Malaysian Parliament

Malaysia's Parliament has always been the centre stage for political drama, known as "sandiwara" in the national language. From the MPs (members of Parliament) calling each other as animals to the insults of the Malaysian Indians community (some MPs pathetically labelled them as keling), there's always some interesting things to watch whenever the August House is in sitting.

The latest sandiwara was on last Monday. As a result of the Klang councillors' issue, MP Teresa Kok (from DAP) moved that the House debate the reintroduction of the council elections across Malaysia. However, Speaker Tan Sri Ramli Ngah Talib said, "the motion was of specific nature and of public interest but it is not urgent". And so the motion was rejected.

The next day, another motion was moved in the Parliament. MP Rahman Ismail (from BN) moved that the House debate the situation in Palestine vis-a-vis the acrocities committed by Israel. The same speaker ruled that the motion was specific in nature, of public interest and urgent. So urgent that Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar rushed down from Wisma Putra (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) on the hill in Putrajaya to take part in the debate in Kuala Lumpur.