OPPOSITION newbie Wong Hon Jun, better known as Junz Wong, has been suspended for six months from the State Legislative Assembly after a motion to shelve him was tabled and passed by the House.
The first time assemblyman, representing Likas, was given the suspension after he was accused of sensationalizing and misleading the House and the public on a crime that did not happened.
Speaker, Datuk Seri Salleh Said, handed down the punishment recommended by the State assembly’s Rights and Privileges Committee, after a majority of the members voted for it despite attempts by fellow opposition representatives to defend the first time Likas assemblyman.
Wong in January this year had highlighted in his Facebook account about a purported armed robbery involving a teenage girl victim outside a public toilet in Suria Sabah.
According to Junz, he was informed by the the girl that she suffered cuts after she was attacked by the robber and he posted the picture of the said injuries on the Internet.
However, the girl later admitted that the robbery never took place and that the injuries were self inflicted.
Special Tasks Minister, Datuk Teo Chee Kang, in proposing the sentence, said the DAP representative has been given his rights to be heard and to defend himself before the Committee as well as to speak in the Dewan.
All the facts pertaining to charges against Wong has also been thoroughly examined leading to the Committee’s decision and recommendation to the Dewan.
“The girl alleged that she encountered a robbery and as a result from it she suffered cuts. It came to the knowledge of the YB (Wong) and without verifying the facts he posted on Facebook with the following comment, “KK no longer safe for public”. The fact is the girl injured herself to get the attention of her parents,” he said.
Teo also presented to the Dewan that Wong in his statement in the previous sitting appeared to try and justify his action of spreading the false information on the incident when he said the girl had lodged a police report on the incident.
However, he reminded, the police report was only filed on January 7, a day after Wong posted the photos and his comment in this Facebook account.
“He therefore cannot use the police report as justification for spreading the photos and information on the Internet,” said Teo.
Earlier, opposition chief, Datuk Seri Lajim Ukin, appealed for leniency for Wong, suggesting to the House to only bar him from following the remainder of the Assembly sitting, which ended yesterday, and to warn him not to repeat the same mistake again, on the account that he was a newcomer and not yet fluent with rules and regulations of the House.
He also questioned the objectivity of the Committee in arriving at the decision, based on the fact that there was technically no representative from the opposition sitting on the panel.
“According to the regulation, there must be at least one representative from the opposition in the committee. However, YB Melanie Chia of Luyang, who was appointed into the committee, was no longer in the opposition.
“We, in Pakatan Rakyat, has agreed to recommend a representative from DAP but he was never appointed while the committee continued to deliberate on the charges and punished YB Likas. So, I would like to suggest that we consider a more lenient punishment.
“Wong’s mistake was to believe the claim (by the girl), and the police too has confirmed there were cuts,” he said.
Teo, in responding to this, said that it was only a coincidence that Melanie applied to join Barisan Nasional through MCA after she was appointed to represent the opposition in the Rights and Privileges Committee.
He added that the House’s standing order does not provide for the committee to appoint a new member to replace Melanie, who has not withdrawn from the duty given to her.
“In this situation, it is impossible for the committee to restore the balance in its membership. What is important, however, is that YB Likas has been given the opportunity to defend himself,” he said.
Earlier, Api-Api representative, Christina Liew, also tried to defend Wong by demanding that the House reject the committee’s recommendation to punish the latter.
She said suspending Wong for highlighting a problem related to him by his constituent was tantamount to denying him his natural rights as the elected representative voted by the people.