KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 14 — Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Azhar Azizan Harun said he believed himself to have acted independently and impartially after two years and four months presiding over the lower House.

Despite complaints and criticism mainly from Opposition lawmakers, Azhar said he took the job in a good faith after being offered by the prime minister at the time, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

He said he had done his best as the chairman of the Election Commission (EC) during the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration and had never been partial to any political parties and politicians.

"I never took the (EC) job as a sign to support for PH, same as the Speaker job

"As a Speaker, I have done my best, I followed the standing orders,” he said in Astro Awani’s Consider This show tonight.

Azhar added that he was also criticised by government MPs earlier this year for disallowing three votes from their MPs to extend the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 in March, for coming in late.

"The complaints were always there from both sides,” he said.

Azhar also admitted that most criticism stemmed from his policy to not explain his rulings ostensibly to prevent this from being used as political fodder.

He said this after being asked about some issues, such as his rejection of motions or debates from the Opposition as well as an apparent penchant to answer as though he were a part of the Executive, including during the vote on Budget 2022 last year.

"I did not regret that (my actions). I learned a lesson, perception is important but this also fuelled by my refusal to explain things

"As a Speaker, I feel that the Speaker does not need to explain rulings made in the House.

"(However) if I reject any motion, I will explain it at length,” he said.

Azhar also commented on rejecting motions from 17 MPs to debate about the right of women to automatically confer citizenships to children born abroad to foreign spouses and maintaining that Datuk Seri Najib Razak remained the Pekan MP despite being imprisoned for 12 years.

For the first matter, he said citizenship matters in the Federal Constitution cannot be amended without the consent of the Conference of Rulers.

On Najib, he said the Federal Constitution was clear that an MP would not be disqualified so long as there were pending court proceedings as well as an application for royal pardon.

Lastly, Azhar said he would return to practising law if he was not reappointed as the Speaker after the conclusion of the 15th general election.

The former lawyer who had a following in social media a law activist added that he believed that the democracy in Malaysia is flourishing despite the tumultuous period faced by the country.

"We have seen the changes brought after GE14. There will be no more unicentric government after this,” he said.