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 PAS was in the news when the House got back to business last week after a break of more than two months.

Monday morning was a proud moment for the party when one of their members, former Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin, was sworn in as the new Bukit Gantang MP.

Nizar had won the Bukit Gantang by-election in April, seen as a test of support for the ruling Barisan Nasional and the Pakatan Rakyat after the Perak state administration went into turmoil due to a spate of defections of its state assemblymen from the opposition to the Barisan.

The House was filled to the brim with MPs, officials and even Nizar’s supporters in the public gallery to watch the event.

However, the ceremony turned into something very extraordinary.

After his swearing-in, Nizar broke away from protocol and told Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia that he wanted to inform the House about the Perak constitutional crisis.

Suddenly, he whipped out a piece of black cloth with the words “Bubar DUN” printed on it and tied it to his head.

He then shouted “bubar dun” (dissolve the assembly) and “hidup rakyat” (long live the people), while several of his fellow Pakatan MPs and some from the public gallery also joined in by wearing the black headbands and arm-bands and shouted slogans.

Chaos erupted, with MPs standing up and shouting, while the Speaker tried to bring the situation under control.

A visibly upset Pandikar Amin said that he would not deliver his customary welcoming address to Nizar because of the latter’s behaviour.

Ironically, Nizar had broken the rules of decorum in the Dewan Rakyat while pledging to uphold the laws in the Constitution during his swearing-in ceremony as an MP.

“I find it difficult to accept the behaviour of a member who is also a former mentri besar.

“This has never happened before in our parliamentary history.

“I don’t care how you behave outside the House, but I certainly don’t want any of you to behave like that,” said Pandikar Amin.

The Speaker noticed several Pakatan MPs still wearing the headbands and told them to remove them.

However, they ignored him, which resulted in their expulsion from the House.

In the end, seven MPs, including Nizar, were slapped with two-day suspension orders.

Nizar was shown the exit after spending a mere 10 minutes in the House, thus creating for himself a dubious record of being the first politician in the Dewan Rakyat to have been ejected so soon after being sworn in.

Nizar told reporters in the lobby that he had to put out the message about Barisan Nasional’s unlawful takeover of the Perak state assembly.

Even the debate on the National Service Training (Amendment) Bill 2008 touched on the headband incident.

Datuk Bung Moktar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan) said Nizar was given the honour to take his oath, but choose instead to create disharmony.

The PAS politican was setting a bad example for the younger generation, said Datuk Dr Mohamad Shahrum Osman (BN-Lipis).

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz said he had been an MP for four terms, and it was the first time he had seen such behaviour from an MP.

News about PAS didn’t end there.

The political grapevine was abuzz with reactions from various quarters after the party’s spiritual leader Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat issued an angry statement demanding that PAS deputy president Nasharudin Mat Isa resign as Bachok MP for promoting the unity government with Umno.

Nik Aziz’s outburst shocked many party members since Nasharudin is no small fry in the party — he is the deputy president.

Journalists and even party leaders were eager to contact Nasharudin, but he was absent from the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday, and his written question in the questions’ list was skipped.

Mahfuz Omar (PAS-Pokok Sena), who is PAS vice-president, said Nasharudin refused to answer calls and none of the PAS MPs knew where he was.

Time will tell whether Nasharudin will turn up in Parliament next week.

The House resumed last week with a different seating arrangement from its last sitting in March.

Former prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (BN-Kepala Batas) has moved to the backbenchers block, and he sits with former MCA president Tan Sri Ong Ka Ting (BN -Kulai) and veteran Umno leader Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (BN-Gua Musang).

Abdullah, who entered the House at about 10.20am, left at about 11.40am after he had a word with his son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin (BN-Rembau) in the aisle.

Some changes were made to the seating arrangements of Barisan MPs after Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak assumed the post of Prime Minister and made changes to the Cabinet line-up.

However, Nizar’s position elicited a complaint from Khalid Abd Samad (PAS-Shah Alam).

Khalid questioned why Nizar was given a seat with two Independent MPs, while another Independent Datuk Ibrahim Ali (Ind-Pasir Mas) sat in front of them.

Ibrahim then told the Speaker that he had no problems with being moved to the front row.

MPs had long complained that some MPs in the front rows are given more opportunity than the others to have their questions answered.

Last week’s sitting also saw the bell being rung for two days in a row for lack of quorum.

The bell was rung at 2.30pm on Wednesday after Dr Lo’ Lo’ Mohamad Ghazali (PAS- Titiwangsa) informed Pandikar Amin of the lack of MPs.

The house requires a minimum of 26 MPs to be present at any one time.

On Tuesday, the bell was rung after lunch break at 2.30pm during the debate on the National Service Training (Amendment) Bill at the committee stage.

The House sits again tomorrow.