Opposition MPs who were in the midst of opposing the order through a press conference in Parliament here today quickly changed the tune of their statements to reflect Pandikar’s latest decision.
Pandikar reminded MPs that the report could still not be published by March 28.
The DAP’s Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming accused the speaker of abusing his powers.
“The report says that it is embargoed until it is tabled in Parliament. According to the order paper today, the date it is being tabled is today, so when the speaker made the ruling that the contents of this report cannot be reported on until 28 March, this is an unprecedented move in Parliament’s history.
“The budget document is only embargoed for a few hours but this document is embargoed for almost a week.
“Why did the speaker make a ruling that the contents of this report cannot be reported on and MPs are not allowed to speak about it for almost a week? This is unacceptable and a mockery of parliamentary procedure.
“This is another way the speaker has been abusing his power to stop the public and MPs from debating and talking about the report in and out of Parliament. This is an issue of great importance to the nation,” he said at a press conference in Parliament here today.
Ipoh Barat MP M Kulasegaran asked who had given the order for the speaker to not allow the report to be published and discussed by the public.
“Is it the prime minister or EC? They both have their own interests to protect. I have said many times that the prime minister has got very wide discretion on the redelineation proposal, he can change the whole format and present it.
“The speaker should reconsider his decision or the prime minister should order that the report be made public for each citizen to make comments on. There should be nothing secret about this.
“They (BN) should not steal this election, it should be free and fair and they should stand up to the requirements of the public,” he said.
Pokok Sena MP Mahfuz Omar asked if the parliamentary authorities were being so secretive about it because they feared what the public might say of the report.
“It is weird that the speaker told me in the Dewan that my officers are not allowed to read the report. He does know that the printers and Parliament staff could have all read the report, but he is not allowing my own officers, who could be experts in this exercise, to read the report.
“If he is afraid that it will be reported by the media he can always take action against the media that publishes the report,” he said.
Earlier today, Pandikar said MPs were not allowed to take the report out of the Dewan Rakyat or to even read it before it was tabled for its first reading on March 28 as it had been embargoed.
The Dewan Rakyat is expected to pass the redelineation of electoral boundaries next week before Parliament is dissolved for the 14th general election.
Election Commission (EC) chairman Mohd Hashim Abdullah had said that if passed by the Dewan Rakyat, the redelineation motion would be presented to the king for his royal consent.
He said the redelineation motion was supposed to have been passed two years ago, but was delayed after opposition parties objected and took the matter to court.
Critics of Barisan Nasional (BN) have said the exercise will favour the coalition.
The DAP last week warned Pandikar not to table the redelineation report as the Penang government had filed an appeal against the electoral boundary change exercise in the Federal Court.
The EC submitted its report to Prime Minister Najib Razak on March 9 without completing hearings on objections to the changes in local inquiries.