PENANG MP Datuk Awang Hashim was ordered to leave the Dewan Rakyat this evening after he was found to have disrupted the debate session on the Constitution (Amendment) Bill 2026 to limit the Prime Minister's term of office.
The decision was made by the Deputy Speaker, Datuk Ramli Mohd Noor, after allowing the PAS MP to present his appeal.
Earlier, Ramli also requested that the Dewan Rakyat session be adjourned or temporarily suspended to allow him to review the sentence on the Pendang MP.
"After considering the appeal of the Honourable Member earlier, I impose a sentence as per my authority under (meeting) regulation 44, which should be a maximum of 10 days, and if I am not satisfied, I can refer the Honourable Member to the committee.
"However, I took into account the surrounding circumstances, the time and place of the debate and considering that this is the fasting month. With this, I order the Honourable MP to leave the hall until (if there is) voting time (for the bill) soon," he said when chairing the Dewan Rakyat session today.
Awang complied with the order to leave the hall but requested to be allowed to enter for a moment to debate the bill before leaving again, which was later agreed to by Ramli.
Earlier during the debate session, RSN Rayer (PH-Jelutong) raised the issue of the Sheraton Move, which referred to the effort to overthrow the government in February 2020 and the government formed after that, he claimed, did not receive the people's mandate, sparking protests from opposition MPs.
Several opposition MPs rose to dispute the DAP MP's statement and used the rules of the meeting to request that the statement issued be corrected, but their request was rejected by the Deputy Speaker.
According to the meeting schedule, a total of 41 government and opposition MPs are debating the Bill to limit the term of office of the Prime Minister, with the voting session expected to take place this afternoon.
This is after the Bill, which involves amendments to the provisions of the Federal Constitution, must be approved by at least two-thirds of the members of the Dewan Rakyat.
Earlier, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim tabled the Bill for second reading and stressed that the Bill does not change the basis of parliamentary democracy and does not affect the prerogative powers of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. – March 2, 2026
