Kelantan speaker ejects BN assemblyman from state assembly

KOTA BARU: State Assemblyman Datuk Nozula Mat Diah (BN-Paloh) was ejected from the Kelantan State Assembly at 11.20am today for ignoring the order of the Speaker, Datuk Abdullah Ya'kub.
The decision prompted four Barisan Nasional (BN) state assemblymen, Mat Razi Mat Ail (Pengkalan Kubor), Datuk Ramzi Ab Rahman (Dabong), Ab Aziz Yusoff (Galas) and Zulkifle Ali (Selising), to leave in a show of solidarity with Nozula.
Earlier, the Kelantan State Assembly which was supposed to wind up at 11.15am, got off to a cracker when Nozula stood and asked the Speaker to allow him to debate Budget 2018 tabled by Kelantan Mentri Besar Datuk Ahmad Yakob on Monday.
However, Abdullah told Nozula to sit and allow the People's Wellbeing, Health, Environment and Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) Committee chairman Datuk Dr Ramli Mamat to wind up.
Nozula insisted on the debate on the grounds that the opposition was unhappy with the debate yesterday.
"As the opposition leader, I need to speak on behalf of the people. I will not sit if I am dissatisfied," he said.
Mohamad Zaki Ibrahim (PAS-Kelaboran) then stood and pointed out the house rules book which called on every member to be in agreement with the order issued by the Speaker.
When Nozula still insisted on speaking, Abdullah ordered the usher to escort the Paloh assemblyman out for violating the rules and disrupting the winding-up session by the state government.
Meanwhile, Abdullah said 10 state assemblymen were allowed to debate Budget 2018 yesterday.
They were six PAS assemblymen (Melor, Gual Periok, Gaal, Perupok, Tendong, Kelaboran), three BN assemblymen (Ayer Lanas, Selising, Kok Lanas) and one assemblyman from Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah).
Kelantan has 45 state seats with PAS dominating with 31 seats, BN has 12 seats, while PKR and Amanah has one seat each. — Bernama