KUALA LUMPUR (March 22): The Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia today ruled that the Election Commission’s (EC) re-delineation report, which was tabled to members of Parliament (MPs) today, can be taken out of the hall despite being embargoed from publishing to the public until Wednesday next week (March 28). 

The ruling came after various MPs from the Opposition stood and questioned Pandikar’s initial decision to, apart from public embargo, also bar MPs from opening or reading the report.

Pandikar made the announcement on the report’s tabling and embargo prior to Minister’s Question Time (MQT) session today. During the session, Kota Bharu member of Parliament (MP) Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan stood up and questioned whether MPs were allowed to leave the hall with the report. 

Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar joined in and said she was told by Dewan Rakyat’s staff as she tried to read the report earlier in the morning, that MPs were not allowed to even open nor read the report. 

Pandikar responded by saying the rationale behind it was to guarantee that the report will not be published to the public. 

“If I allowed the document to leave the hall, when it is being published by the media or being known by any other parties, I cannot tell who is responsible, I trust all of you, but if it is published, none of you will admit yourself,” Pandikar said. 

Pokok Sena lawmaker Datuk Mahfuz Omar then stood up and suggested the Parliament could take action against the media house, should any media make publication on the report, instead of barring MPs from even reading the report. 

“If that is the case, might as well we ask the staffs to keep all the report and store them in Speaker’s office,” Mahfuz said. 

However, Pandikar replied no matter how many times MPs stand up, his stance will remain. 

Nurul Izzah then urged Pandikar to clarify his ruling on whether MPs are allowed to read the report. 

“If your decision is to restrict us from bringing away the reports, we can oblige, but at least let us digest the report here, it is a very long report,” she said. 

Pandikar then promised he will check with Dewan Rakyat’s Standing Order and make further clarification. 

The opposition MPs, including those from Pakatan Harapan, PAS, and Warisan, then called for a press conference to express their dissatisfaction about what happened in hall. 

Opposition Dewan Rakyat leader Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said it is “unprecedented” for MPs not to be allowed to read the report presented to them on their table. 

“Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has mentioned before that Parliament will be dissolved after this re-delineation is approved. Hence, we must be given rights and space to study the report, as it involves electoral boundaries that affect all of us as people’s representative,” Wan Azizah said.

The tabling today means MPs are given less than six days to study the content of the reports, before it is being brought up for debate in Dewan Rakyat next week. 

Halfway through the press conference, Pandikar, who was still chairing the MQT session in Dewan Rakyat, interjected and ruled that MPs are allowed to leave with the reports. 

“I want to bring to your attention to Standing Order 95(A); it did not mention that the report is not allowed to leave the hall, so it can leave the hall, but not allow to be published in whatever method,” he said.