Azhar said he was distancing himself from the motion in view of the family ties.

“Therefore, I have decided to exclude myself from making any decision with regard to the motion,” he said in a statement.

He added that any decision on the motion will be left to the discretion of deputy speakers Mohd Rashid Hasnon and Azalina Othman Said, according to their seniority.

“I will not interfere in any way in the deputy speakers’ duties in this matter.”

Azalina confirmed with FMT that she had received the memo from the speaker but declined to comment further.

The motion, submitted on July 29 by Ipoh Barat MP M Kula Segaran, seeks to censure Idrus and de facto law minister Takiyuddin Hassan for allegedly misleading Parliament that the emergency ordinances had been revoked.

In response to the announcement on Monday, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong had expressed “deep disappointment”, stating that he had never consented to the revocation.

The ruler had also expressed disappointment that Takiyuddin and Idrus had failed to abide by his request for the emergency ordinances to be debated in Parliament.

The motion by Kula described this as treasonous (“derhaka”) and called for both of them to be censured.