BN lawmakers defend decision to suspend Anwar

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 16 — Barisan Nasional (BN) lawmakers said the ruling coalition had calculated the political risk in suspending Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim from Parliament but felt that it was the right thing to do.

Kota Belud MP Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan said the public will eventually understand the rationale behind Anwar’s suspension but admitted there will be a political backlash.

“We know that this is going to be a political battle and we have calculated the risk but not putting him under the scrutiny of the House and allowing him to abuse every conceivable standing order is unacceptable.

“So yes, we might get hit politically but in the long run people will understand why we had to do this. This is a man who aspires to be the prime minister of Malaysia and he dares to lie in the House. So we have to put our foot down and we believe that this was the best course of action,” he told reporters during a press conference in Parliament.

Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin (picture) said Pakatan Rakyat (PR) lawmakers were trying to divert from the real issue and that Anwar had lied in his allegation regarding APCO.

“Their aim was to shift away from the real issue at hand which is his lie about APCO and focus on the fact he has been victimised. That was not the intention of the government today; we wanted to debate the motion so that the public and the world can hear what the substantive issue is,” he said.

The opposition leader was suspended today for six months from Parliament amid loud protests and a walkout by PR MPs who called the Dewan Rakyat a kangaroo court.

Anwar received the boot for claiming earlier this year that Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s public relations consultants APCO Worldwide had been behind both the 1 Malaysia and One Israel concepts.

There was no debate on the motion to suspend Anwar as Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia claimed that the opposition’s rowdy behaviour showed that they had no intention to debate the matter.

Pandikar then used provisions under the Dewan Rakyat’s Standing Orders (44) to stop further debate on the motion against Anwar, and proceeded to begin the voting on the motion.

Subang MP R. Sivarasa, Gombak MP Azmin Ali and Karpal were also suspended for six months from Parliament today, barely an hour after the House delivered the same judgment on Anwar.

The motion cited the three lawmakers for contempt for revealing and discussing the proceedings of the Rights and Privileges Committee on Anwar’s APCO claims.

Khairy, the Umno Youth chief, also denied allegations by PR that the suspensions against its lawmakers would be counter-productive.

“Well if it is counter-productive and if they think that it is going to benefit them then don’t complain. Use it by all means politically but we did what was right. In terms of Anwar’s case, there was a complaint made against what he said and we gave him every opportunity to defend himself within Parliament and Rights and Privileges Committee which he stalled, obstructed and rejected. And the government was left to with no choice, and as BN backbenchers we supported the motion to suspend.

“It is for the rakyat to assess but for us we did what was right in terms of what he said and he was not able to substantiate his case,” he said.

He also challenged PR to proceed with its plan to take court action against the Speaker.

Earlier, Bukit Gelugor MP Karpal Singh said PR will seek a judicial review over what he said was the abuse of power by Pandikar and the decision to suspend.

“By all means take the Speaker to court, take the whole Parliament to court. We feel that the Speaker acted within the standing orders and convention of Parliament. We are ready to debate but unfortunately we were not able to do so because of the disgusting behaviour of the opposition MPs.

“This is the worst behaviour in the history of Parliament. If they didn’t want to disrupt the proceeding then where did the placards come from? It is a pre-meditated disruption of Parliament,” said Khairy.

Hulu Selangor MP P. Kamalanathan said the opposition lawmakers’ behaviour today was undemocratic.

“This is not the right way for a democracy, by bringing placards into the Dewan. Today’s issue is about getting the statement from Permatang Pauh (Anwar). But he never used this opportunity to defend himself. Until today, he has never stated his stand, but has always changes his topic when we asked him to explain his allegations,” he said. - Malaysian Insider