Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Johari Abdul is pictured at Parliament building in Kuala Lumpur December 19, 2022. — Malay Mail photo
KUALA LUMPUR (July 2): For Tan Sri Johari Abdul, there is a very clear line separating the politician and the Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat.
He said this was how it must be and how he has been treating the members of parliament (MPs), regardless of their affiliation, when they were in the Lower House.
“I want to maintain my neutrality, not only because I want people to feel that I am neutral, I want to feel myself that I am neutral; it’s only fair.
“I don’t want to have sleepless nights (thinking) I shouldn’t be there (political functions). So, if people come and ask me for advice on political issues, I say I shouldn’t comment.
“That’s why when certain personalities raise certain things and try to play politics with me, I mean, you remember I said, don’t play politics with me, if you want to fight, you fight among yourselves, you have your political agenda,” Johari told Malay Mail in an interview.
No grandstanding
On June 8, Johari reprimanded Malaysian United Democratic Alliance’s (Muda) Muar MP, Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, for misrepresenting the Speaker’s ruling on a motion to debate issues surrounding the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) in Parliament.
Instead of bringing the matter to Johari, the Muar MP criticised the Speaker for rejecting the latter’s motion allegedly without valid reasons and had raised the matter outside of Parliament in a press conference.
Johari later explained that the motion submitted by the Muar MP did not fulfil criteria under the Standing Order 18 (7)(c), while at the same time, the Speaker wanted the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to complete its investigation on the LSC project.
While Muda is nominally aligned with Johari’s party, PKR, the Speaker said such ties did not matter when it came to enforcing the rules governing the affairs of Parliament.
“If you have a problem come and talk to me, don’t raise that kind of, I would say, suspicion against me — ‘kita tidak adil’, all that stuff — because everything has been clearly stated in the Standing Orders and if I reject your motion you can always appeal, but don’t whack me in the Dewan Rakyat because I can do wonders on you.
“But I warned him (Syed Saddiq), I warned him very clearly, I hope he gets the message loud and clear.
“I don’t expect an apology, but I hope he can (learn), it’s self-learning if you want to rise to a certain level of leadership, you got to learn and you got to respect the institution especially when you are in the Dewan Rakyat… so if you do not behave it’s not me who will judge you but the society and the public will be judging,” Johari said.
He reminded the Muar MP that the latter is now in his second term as an MP and should know the Standing Orders well enough to know he was treading on dangerous territory.
“Because when you have problem with the Speaker… it doesn’t look good on you.
“He should learn, because he is a president of a party, so certainly he has followers. If he wants his followers to respect him, he better respect others, especially the institution.
“Can you imagine, when a judge writes a judgment against you or not in favour of you, do you go out and whack the judge? No, you whack from the system — I don’t like the system, I don’t like the law — you can say that but you don’t whack the judge personally, wrong message,” he said.
Referring to his ruling in relation to the LCS motion, Johari stressed that he followed the rules drawn up by and for Parliament.
“Those books that I was holding that day — Standing Orders and Federal Constitution — those were not done by me, it’s done by you all (MPs); if you change it, I will follow.
“So, when I’m executing the laws’ instruction, those are made by you. I’m just here to administer, I follow A to Z, of course there are clauses where I can use my discretion, but again principally it is there, and you have to adhere by the books.
“So as people say, why kill the judge?” he said.
Explaining further, Johari said the day he took up the role of Speaker, he had to relinquish all of his political party posts, his Gurun state seat, and abstain from any political party events.
“I cannot hold any position, that is stipulated in the Constitution. I had to release any position (in the party), I can only be an ordinary member of a party and at the same time I cannot hold any shares in any company, I cannot run a business.
“We are contrary to Singapore. In Singapore, they can have second job, they can be a practising lawyer and same time a Speaker, but we cannot, we are very strict.
“We are paid to do that, then you just stick to it. We’re like the judge of a court, we cannot hold any position, we are almost equal on that score and that gives me independence so that even though I come from a party, but I will not go back to do party work, I cannot do that,” he said.
However, if a function is run by his party’s president — currently Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim — the event must be organised officially by the government, Johari said.
“Then I can attend, but if it’s a party function, so far I have not attended and I will not be attending,” he said.
Johari, who had been the Pakatan Harapan parliamentary whip, was elected as the Dewan Rakyat Speaker last December during a special parliamentary sitting, replacing Tan Sri Azhar Azizan Harun.
His name was among two proposed for the post. Johari’s was suggested by Anwar and seconded by Deputy Prime Minister I Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, while the other candidate was Tan Sri Mohd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad, who was proposed by Perikatan Nasional Larut MP Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin and seconded by Kota Baru MP Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan.
Johari won by a resounding 147 votes while Mohd Radzi only received 74 votes.
Equal treatment
Johari said the fact that he was voted in by the Dewan Rakyat meant that it gave him the trust and therefore he is determined to stay colour blind and independent.
“When I go up there, as much as possible I am human being, but as much as possible I try to be as neutral as possible,” he said.
As the Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat, he is governed by two books — the Federal Constitution and the Standing Orders — so as long as the MPs adhere to the two books, Johari said they are good.
“Of course, I do take action against MPs from government, same for some Opposition MPs.
“So, to me it’s very crystal clear, when they are before me they are MPs, I don’t see them as members of party X, I see them as MPs. They represent the rakyat, they should be treated equally.
“Of course, sometimes they misbehave that’s a different matter altogether, both sides misbehave sometimes, but I got to treat them equally. I give then the same medicine, it’s either a bitter medicine or sweet medicine,” he said.
While he called the Speaker’s job a tough one, Johari said as long as there is mutual respect, it is manageable.
“You can see certain personalities are quite gung-ho there, and they are very senior — people like Kota Baru, Pagoh (Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin), even Arau (Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim), but because they are my friends, the respect is there and I’ve been there 15 years, I know them.
“So, that kind of respect, it’s been exercised at the moment I think it’s very healthy — except one or two aside, they want to play politics, score points unnecessarily, hold press conference to whack me — other than that I’m okay.
“Even senior MPs they come and just talk to me, ministers come to talk to me, that kind of relationships helps. Not (helping) me, but helps the running of the Parliament,” he said.
The objective is very simple at the end of the day, Johari added, as the government has set agenda that must be settled.
He said if the Bills laid on his table are not cleared, other items will get stuck.
When he is handed a plate on his table, he has to clear it, Johari said.
“I got to clear this plate, and within my means, which I think now at the moment we are almost 100 per cent, no hiccup nothing.
“But in the process of doing that, the MPs have to help me, the Opposition play their role and the government play their role,” he said.
As long as there is an understanding there, at the end of the day the rakyat and public is the main concern, he said, and they should be the beneficiary of why the Parliament exists.
It is not a voluntary job, Johari reminded MPs.
“We are paid by them (rakyat), so Opposition do your part, government do your part, Speaker do your part.
“If three of us are in congruence, you are done,” he said. – Malay Mail