All the UMNO and PAS MPs who disregarded and defied the Speaker’s directives and shouted and yelled incessantly to stop Waytha Moorthy from continuing his reply in Parliament on Monday should be referred to the Committee of Privileges to prevent another recurrence

What happened in Parliament on Monday morning, when UMNO and PAS Members of Parliament defied and disregarded the Speaker’s directives and shouted and yelled incessantly to stop the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, P. Waytha Moorthy from replying and delivering his speech during the Ministerial winding-up in the debate on the 2019 Budget is the greatest disgrace in the half-a-century history of Malaysian Parliament, as such a dishonourable incident had never happened before in the Malaysian Parliament since 1959.

Has parliamentary standards in Malaysia degraded so much in the past half-a-century? Is the Malaysian Parliament next to graduate to fist-fights and physical attacks on the Speaker as happened in other Parliaments?

What made Monday’s disgraceful incident in Parliament even more shocking is that some of the miscreant Members of Parliament were former Cabinet Ministers – which highlighted the glaring fact that the former Cabinet that was unceremoniously chucked out of Putrajaya by the Malaysian voters on May 9, 2018 was one the worst in Malaysian history - made up of the most “deadwood” and “half-past six” Ministers.

It is sad that the miscreant UMNO and PAS Members of Parliament who succeeded in shouting down Waytha Moorthy and prevented him from replying in Parliament had never heard or understood the famous Voltarian saying: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”!

Why can’t the UMNO and PAS Members of Parliament exercise the necessary parliamentary decorum and dignity to allow Waytha Moorthy to have his say, however vehement they may disagree with him, and then respond to him, whether in Parliament or outside?

The disgraceful parliamentary episode on Monday morning should never be allowed to happen again, and no Member of Parliament or Minister should be shouted and yelled at to shut him or her out to prevent an MP or Minister from having his or her say in Parliament.

For this reason, all the UMNO and PAS MPs who disregarded and defied the Speaker’s directives and shouted and yelled incessantly to stop Waytha Moorthy from continuing his reply in Parliament on Monday should be referred to the Committee of Privileges to ensure that such a blot on the record of the Malaysian Parliament will never recur.