Ramkarpal had called Umno Youth members “gangsters” in reference to an incident several years ago when his father, Karpal Singh, was surrounded and mobbed by 30 of them at the Parliament lobby.

A shouting match then erupted over the matter with Ramkarpal refusing to retract his statement despite Ismail Mohamed Said (Umno-Kuala Krau) demanding that he do so.

Other Barisan Nasional (BN) MPs then waded in, with Bung Moktar Radin (Umno-Kinabatangan) accusing Ramkarpal of being the real gangster.

Deputy speaker Mohd Rashid Hasnon ordered Ramkarpal to retract his statement and asked the MPs to be seated, adding that those who refused to do so could leave the hall.

However, Bung refused to leave, saying he would only do so if Ramkarpal also left.

Rashid also said he would let Ramkarpal off the hook with a warning, earning the ire of opposition lawmakers.

The uproar over the matter lasted for more than an hour, with Shamsul Anuar Nasarah (Umno-Lenggong) joining Bung in calling RSN Rayer (DAP-Jelutong) a samseng.

The chaos continued after lunch, with Ramkarpal ejected at 2.30pm.

He told reporters at the Dewan Rakyat lobby that he was disappointed with the deputy speaker’s decision that he should retract his statement when he had earlier given him a warning.

He added that he would remain ejected for a day.

MPs from both sides of the divide said they wanted the speaker to be firmer when handling disturbances in the Dewan Rakyat.

“If we want this to be a world-class Parliament, the speaker has to be firm in making decisions and follow through on it,” Khairy Jamaluddin (Umno-Rembau) said.

Wong Chen (PKR-Subang) meanwhile said the speaker should take a stronger stand on such matters.

“This is the first day, and the speaker is new. We hope the situation will cool off.”