Singapore's Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin was treated to a first row view of the inner workings of Malaysian politics.

On March 19, Malaysiakini reported that Tan witnessed a quarrel between several Malaysian MPs.

Malaysian MP suspended but re-entered Parliament

The tiff was over the presence of an MP re-entering the lower house of Malaysia's Parliament, the Dewan Rakyat, despite having been suspended earlier in the morning.

Free Malaysia Today (FMT) added that the MP in question, Noh Omar, had been suspended by deputy speaker Nga Kor Ming for a duration of three days, over an insulting remark at the institution of the speaker.

Noh was adamant he cannot be suspended as he was not physically around when the suspension was handed out.

According to Malaysiakini, Noh, who is a Barisan Nasional (BN) MP, subsequently turned to Tan for assistance during the uproar over his re-entry, and asked:

"I want to ask the Speaker from Singapore, have you ever suspended members (of Parliament) in their absence?"

Suspended MP tells Tan to witness the "new Malaysia"

Malaysiakini further highlighted that Noh received applause from lawmakers belonging to the BN and Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) parties upon posing his question to Tan.

FMT quoted Noh as further telling Tan:

"It is good that the Singaporean delegation is here now. They can see for themselves the new Malaysia. The Pakatan Harapan (PH) government makes its decision without applying the rule of law".

Subsequently, Malaysiakini added that Malaysian deputy speaker, Mohd Rashid Hasnon, instructed the sergeant-at-arms to remove Noh from the house.

Protests and quarrels

This triggered a quarrel between PH MPs and lawmakers from BN and PAS, resulting in Rashid allowing Noh to stay until the 1pm lunch break.

Malaysiakini quoted Rashid as stating:

"I allow (Noh) to sit until 1pm (lunch break)".

This led to further protests from PH MP Khoo Poay Tiong, who demanded that Noh leave the house.

Rashid then turned off the mics of MPs who were shouting at each other and repeatedly checked the clock.

FMT reported that even when the lunch break kicked in three minutes later, MPs were still heard shouting at each other as they left.

MP claims he was suspended without his knowledge

Both FMT and Malaysiakini said that Noh claimed he was suspended without his knowledge.

Prior to the fracas, Noh entered the Dewan Rakyat with around 15 minutes left to the 1pm lunch break.

He was then informed of his suspension by Rashid once the announcement of Tan's arrival was made, with Malaysiakini quoting Rashid as stating:

"I would like to announce to the honourable Tanjung Karang (MP) that a ruling was made in the morning, where the (deputy) speaker (Nga Kor Ming) ruled that you are not going to attend the sitting for three days".

This elicited Noh's question of how the ruling could have been made in his absence, without being given the opportunity to explain.

In response, PH MP Chang Lih Kang, told Noh not to do something embarrassing in front of the foreign guests.

When the Dewan Rakyat resumed session at 2pm, the new deputy speaker, Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof, reiterated the decision to uphold the ruling to suspend him.

Noh replied that he accepted the ruling made by the new speaker, but maintained that he still rejected the earlier ruling made in his absence.

Why is Tan Chuan-Jin in Malaysia?

According to Tan's Facebook post on March 18, he is in Kuala Lumpur on a working trip to strengthen bilateral ties at the parliamentarian level.

It is also Tan's first official visit as Speaker of Parliament, with a larger delegation than usual.

Tan added that he was looking forward to catching up with his Malaysian counterpart and other Malaysian politicians in the coming days.

But Malaysian media did not record Tan's response to Noh, if he gave any.

Here is his post: