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Thursday, July 20, 2017

Labour MP tables motion on 1MDB in UK Parliament



A United Kingdom opposition MP has tabled an early day motion (EDM) in the House of Commons highlighting the 1MDB issue.
The motion by Ann Clwyd from the Labour Party stated that the House was alarmed by the allegation of misappropriation that supposedly took place in 1MDB, and encouraged the Malaysian government to allow international observers to be present in the 14th general election.
“(This is) to demonstrate its (Malaysia’s) commitment to free and fair elections, particularly given Malaysia will be taking up the Chair-in-Office of the Commonwealth in 2020.
“(The House) calls on the government to ensure that allegations of misappropriated funds from Malaysia having been used to buy assets in the UK is thoroughly investigated,” the motion read.
It also highlighted that restrictions are being imposed on government critics and opposition MPs in Malaysia, including the incarceration of former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim “following legal proceedings which fell far short of international standards”.
However, the EDM has garnered little support since it was tabled on July 18.
As of writing at 4pm Malaysian time today, only three MPs have expressed support for the motion, including Clwyd.
The other two MPs who have pledged their support for the motion are Alan Brown of the Scottish National Party and Jim Shannon of the Democratic Unionist Party.
In contrast, the most popular EDM for the current 2017-19 UK parliamentary session, which calls for a fairer pension scheme for women, has garnered 182 signatures so far since it was tabled on June 27.
This is not the first time an EDM mentioning 1MDB has been tabled in the UK Parliament, however.
On Nov 9, 2015, a motion also brought by Clwyd called attention to restrictions on space for public debate and free speech in Malaysia following the 13th general election and the 1MDB scandal.
The motion received bipartisan support, albeit only from 18 MPs.
What are EDMs?
According to a fact sheet on EDMs posted on the UK Parliament’s website, EDMs are formal motions that have been submitted for debate without a specific time allocation. As such, few are actually debated.
“EDMs are used to put on record the views of individual MPs or to draw attention to specific events or campaigns. Topics covered by EDMs vary widely.

“By attracting the signatures of other MPs, they can be used to demonstrate the level of parliamentary support for a particular cause or point of view,” the fact sheet stated.
It said 1,457 EDMs had been tabled during the 2015-16 parliamentary session. In an average session, only six or seven of these would attract over 200 signatures, while about 70 to 80 would have over 100 signatures.
The current record for most number of signatures for an EDM is 502.
The vast majority of EDMs, however, would have only one or two signatures, although there is no rule whereby the number of signatures would affect the likelihood of a motion being debated. -Mkini

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