KUALA LUMPUR: Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun said his new position is a job to him and that he has not been biased to any Member of Parliament in the House.
Speaker to reporters, Azhar, also known as Art Harun, who was visibly upset, said he refused to entertain claims made against him and that he simply wanted to do his job as the speaker.
"I am not going to justify any action of mine. I am not going to polemicise whatever I do while I sit on the chair. That's what I do, it's a job to me.
"So I am not going to answer all those questions. Sorry, I can't and I shouldn't. It's like (being) a judge when they make a judgment and that's it, you know.
"So I can't answer all those questions, I'm sorry," he told the media when met at the Parliament building here today when asked to respond to criticisms made against him.
When asked on claims that he has shifted over to side with the Perikatan Nasional government, Azhar again denied the allegation.
The allegation follows a debate session during Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz's session last week where Azhar told opposition MPs that Zafrul had answered all questions posed to him.
"I didn't speak on behalf of the Finance Minister. I was keeping time. That's all I can say, I'm sorry, I don't want to render whatever I do as a polemic.
"I can't do that and I am not going to do that. I will receive all criticisms. What can I do? This is my job," he said.
Azhar's appointment as Dewan Rakyat speaker was met with controversy last month as he was appointed without a vote from MPs, drawing protest from the opposition bloc.
Despite being labelled as the "backdoor speaker", Azhar maintained that his appointment was legitimate, saying that there was no need for a voting session in the Lower House, should there only be one nominee.