The walkout occurred after a terse argument between PN and House Speaker Johari Abdul, with PN saying Anwar’s motion was supposed to be done in the morning instead of the afternoon, citing the parliamentary standing order.
One PN lawmaker, representing the rural seat of Pendang in Kedah state, was also ejected from the house for his part in the ruckus. He was allowed back after he apologised to the speaker.
In his inaugural speech as king in the opening of parliament on Monday, Sultan Ibrahim reminded the country’s 222 lawmakers to set the best example for the public and gave the speaker “greenlight” to discipline those who “shout and curse at others”.
“Looking at the previous antics of the members of this assembly, I myself would feel ashamed to enter this hall,” Sultan Ibrahim said.
Malaysia’s new king Sultan Ibrahim signals strong backing for Anwar
Malaysia’s new king Sultan Ibrahim signals strong backing for Anwar
Anwar, who spent the morning hosting his Cambodian counterpart Hun Manet who was in Kuala Lumpur for an official visit, said he was sorry he could not attend parliament earlier, but argued there was nothing wrong with introducing the motion later in the day.
Malay sociology expert Awang Azman Awang Pawi from Universiti Malaya said PN had resorted to such antics to keep themselves relevant after the king offered praise for Anwar’s administration and warned against attempts to destabilise the government.
Sultan Ibrahim also said in his speech that “anyone seeking to play politics should wait for the next general elections”.
PN, which has been trying to court government MPs to renounce their support for Anwar, would lose the backing of its voter base if it kept quiet and did not challenge the king’s decree, Awang Azman argued.
“It looks like they are not respecting the king, but for them to survive, they need to create controversies so that their support base does not dip,” he said.
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Analyst James Chin from the University of Tasmania said the king’s comments about not entertaining attempts against the government were in his personal capacity.
“It does not mean that PN cannot work towards removing Anwar,” Chin noted.
He added that PN could achieve its goal through a vote of confidence on the parliament floor or through the formation of new coalitions.
“If the number [of lawmakers supporting Anwar] changes, the king will have no choice,” he said.
Analyst Tunku Mohar Mokhtar from the International Islamic University of Malaysia meanwhile described the country’s legislature as being stuck at an immature, “third world” level.
“It looks like our MPs are unperturbed by the Agong’s [king’s] advice. So far, not much has changed. The walkout, screaming matches and unparliamentary words still happen,” Tunku Mohar said.
Instead of meaningful debate, he argued that MPs were more interested in playing party politics and justifying that the government could be changed midterm.
While never breaking into fist-fights, the Malaysian legislature has often been labelled by the public as a “zoo”, owing to the perceived childish antics of its members such as shouting and name-calling, even going so far as to mention female members’ menstrual cycles.
The public and government lawmakers panned the trivial nature of the opposition’s walkout, saying PN was making a mountain out of a molehill.
“Focus on check and balance issues of the people, not trivial things like this. It’s a shame that there is opposition like this,” a netizen said on social media platform X.
“Unfortunately, the existing opposition often lacks ideas to debate substantive issues,” Rafizi said. “They delay and waste the time of the assembly with trivial matters.”
The coalition of the Islamist party PAS and the monoethnic Malay nationalist Bersatu party have been adamant that the result of the 15th general elections in 2022 was stolen from them, saying they already had the numbers to form a government from the support of lawmakers from competing Malay nationalist party Umno.
Then-king Sultan Abdullah did not recognise their claim and urged parties to set up a unity government to take Malaysia out of the quagmire that saw the unprecedented fall of three prime ministers in three years, which he described as a black mark on his reign.
Sultan Ibrahim said his speech on Monday was more measured than usual, so as not to offend anyone this early into his reign.
But he warned that his tone might change in the future, and cautioned members of the legislature to “tread carefully”.