KUALA LUMPUR: The august house descended into another round of chaos when an opposition member of parliament (MP) accused DAP of acquiring "hundreds of acres" of land in Kelantan.
The uproar started when R.S.N. Rayer (Pakatan Harapan-Jelutong) invoked Standing Orders 36(6) and 36(12), alleging that opposition leaders had obstructed him from raising the issue of gold mining in Kelantan in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.
Datuk Awang Hashim (PN-Pendang) stood up and interjected Rayer, claiming that DAP had applied for land in Kelantan.
"I found that there is a DAP leader who applied for land, in the hundreds of acres.
"This is out of Jelutong's knowledge. He doesn't know this."
This led to several DAP MPs standing up in objection, compelling Awang to provide proof and name the leader who had asked for land in the state.
Apart from Rayer, they included Cha Kee Chin (PH-Rasah), Chow Yu Hui (PH-Raub) and Khoo Poay Tiong (PH-Kota Melaka).
Chow said if Awang did not say a name, he must retract his statement.
Cha, meanwhile, said Awang did not have proof of his claims and told him not to lie.
"If you are brave, say the person's name. I challenge you, Pendang, to say the person's name," Rayer shouted.
"Retract! This is a malicious accusation, you must retract," Khoo then said.
Deputy Dewan Rakyat speaker Alice Lau, who presided over the session, then told the MPs to submit a motion on the matter.
She then asked Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) M. Kulasegaran to continue his winding-up speech on the debate over the amendments to the Audit Act 1957.
However, Kulasegaran also took the time to defend DAP from Awang's claims.
"I have to answer to Pendang. Since I became a DAP member in the 1990s, one of DAP's policies was not to allow any member to apply or get government land, even an inch.
"Not just me as a member, but my wife and all my children also must not get land.
"This is a principle that we hold very strong to our hearts, so it is impossible to say that there is a DAP leader who applied for land," he added.