BN suspends Anwar, 3 Pakatan MPs in 'empty' hall, makes laughing stock of Parliament

Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle

UPDATE5 Malaysia's Parliament ended its session for the year in disgrace after Prime Minister Najib Razak hammered through motions to suspend four veteran lawmakers for 6 months each including Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim.

The BN government tabled the suspension against Anwar in an 'empty' hall, bereft of opposition members who had staged a walkout - leaving Najib's lawmakers looking foolish as they 'debated' among themselves.

"Najib and BN have made a laughing stock of themselves to the country and the rest of world. They wanted to behave like dictators and therefore deserve to be exposed for the bullies that they are. The joke is now them," Batu MP Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.

"Sad to say, the Malaysian Parliament is malfunctioning. It is now a one-sided BN dictatorship and they can talk to themselves for as long as they wish. Pakatan will not be a party to this pretense of a sham democracy and the sooner Malaysians and the rest of the world is apprised of this truth, the better it is for our future."

Najib is trying to show an iron hand, Malaysians must not fear

Despite heightened police presence, BN Speaker of the House Pandikar Amin Mulia had earlier lost control of the situation. His act of arbitrarily switching off the microphones of Pakatan lawmakers infuriated them and this soon led to shouting on both sides of the political divide.

"We are not making noise for the sake of making noise. We have to defend the people's trust in us to protect democracy. Najib is trying to show the country he is going to rule with an iron fist - like Mahathir used too. But we are telling Malaysians, don't be scared. This is a new time and a new age. Stand up for your rights and don't let dictators steamroll over you - they will rob the country blind with their corrupt ways,"said Tian.

The suspension motion was tabled by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nazri Aziz. The ruling coalition wants Karpal Singh (DAP-Bukit Gelugor), Sivarasa Rasiah (PKR-Subang) and Azmin Ali (PKR-Gombak) to be locked out of Parliament for 6 months.

Additionally, the House also suspended Anwar, endorsing a recommendation by the Rights and Privileges Committee to freeze the Permatang Pauh MP for 6 months for pointing out the link between the Najib's prized 1Malaysia concept and international consulting firm APCO.

In a speech to Parliament earlier this year, Anwar had chided Najib for appointing APCO and paying it exorbitant fees even though the firm's top management had clear links to the Israeli secret service.

Not given the chance to speak

Meanwhile, as Pakatan MPs flashed placards either because their mikes were muted or they were not given the chance to speak, BN lawmakers retaliated by hurling verbal abuse. BN MP for Rembau Khairy Jamaluddin was quick to condemn his opposition colleagues.

"I was called by Speaker to be the 1st the debate the motion. Opposition took out placards to place at their seats. Pandemonium. Tahniah Pakatan Rakyat berjaya mentransformasikan Parlimen menjadi Pasar (Congratulations Pakatan for transforming Parliament into a market)," Khairy said on Twitter.

But his version of the story was fiercely disputed.

"That is the BN version and it is what you will see inUtusan and the Star tomorrow. We stood up and flashed placards because we were silenced. The Speaker was hyper-sensitive and refused to allow us to speak. We had to use placards. Pandikar also asked us to file motions if we are unhappy, but each time we do so, our motions are rejected. How do we ever get to do our work," Sivarasa told Malaysia Chronicle.

"The injustice must be made known. The citizenry must be told that their rights are being trampled on and the representatives they sent to Parliament are being blocked in this way. Malaysia under BN has gone to the dogs. Even now, what they are doing is against all ethical practice. They have not given Anwar, Azmin, Karpal and myself the right to defend ourselves but insist they have. Where is the 7 days notice? BN is just using might and the conspiracy of their press to push through this suspension for their own ulterior motives."

BN 'debates' among themselves end in Pakatan-bashing

Meanwhile, left to themselves, BN MPs went through the motions of debating the move to suspend Siva, Karpal and Azmin. Since they were speaking among themselves, the 'debates' soon turned into an Anwar and Pakatan bashing session.

Ibrahim Ali, the MP for Pasir Mas, stood up to say that the political upheaval in Malaysia is the result of Anwar's unrelenting ambition to become prime minister.

"The nation will never be peaceful until he becomes prime minister," Malaysiakini reported Ibrahim as saying.

Another lawmaker Wee Choo Keong from Wangsa Maju, who recently quit PKR and is now with the BN-friendly Konsensus Bebas accused Pakatan of not practising what it preached.

"That is why I could not stand it and resigned," said Wee.