Speaker sinks emergency motion on Equanimity

PARLIAMENT | Dewan Rakyat Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia has rejected an emergency motion which was filed to urge Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to explain attorney-general Apandi Ali's statement that the government will not claimbusinessperson Low Taek Jho's luxury yacht Equanimity. 

Gooi Hsiao Leung (PKR-Alor Setar), who filed the motion today, insisted that the issue was of public importance.

"We need the prime minister to answer in Parliament whether he will instruct the attorney-general to recover the assets that were seized by the US Department of Justice because they are from the rakyat's money, which was misappropriated through 1MDB."

Pandikar asked Gooi (photo) to first wait for his written response on the matter, to which, Gooi then replied that he had just received it.

Reading out the letter later, the lawmaker said his motion was rejected as it did not fulfil Section 18(7)(c) of the Parliament Standing Orders and had gone against Section 23(1)(c) and 23(1)(g).

Under Section 18(7)(c), the speaker, in chambers, may refuse to allow any motion submitted to him if it contravenes any of the provisions of the Standing Orders.

Section 23(1)(c) states that a question should not contain any argument, interference and opinion, among others, and should not be asked to seek information on trivial matters while 23(1)(g) states that a question should not be crafted as to likely be prejudicial to a case under trial.

At this juncture, Bung Moktar Radin (BN-Kinabatangan) interjected by saying that Gooi should not be wasting Parliament's time on the matter.

"If you haven't followed the Standing Orders then that's it, don't waste the Dewan's time, we want to debate," Bung (photo) said.

However, Gooi insisted that an explanation had not been given on how his motion had gone against the Standing Orders.

"There are certain facts in relation to the case, and these have been widely reported and the yacht has been seized.

"We only want to hear the prime minister's explanation on what will be the actions taken to recover assets stolen from Malaysians."

Pandikar explained that he would have to go back on his previous decisions made in relation to the 1MDB issue if he were to allow for the motion to be discussed.

"From what I know, the yacht is among those being investigated. That's why I'm not allowing the motion to be discussed," he added.

Gooi rebutted said that his motion was specific, in that he was referring to the attorney-general's statement.

"We want the prime minister to explain what will be the instructions that will be given to the government, more specifically the attorney-general, to recover our money."

'Separation of powers'

Pandikar, however, said he believes that Gooi understood the concept of separation of powers.

"It annoys and confuses me when some claim that the executive interferes with others, now the executive is being asked to interfere. In matters related to investigations, let the authorities do their work.

"This issue has been discussed in social media and conventional media, the rakyat have heard all these so let the rakyat determine what is the truth.

"At the Dewan Rakyat, I only determine whether the Standing Orders are being followed or not," he said.

In a press conference later, Gooi expressed disappointment over the rejection of his motion.

"The reasons given were not reasonable because this issue is of public importance.

"Is this a trivial matter?" he asked reporters, in reference to Section 23(1)(c) of the Standing Orders.

The Equanimity was seized by Indonesian authorities in a joint effort with US Federal Bureau of Investigation last week.

When asked by Malaysiakini whether the government would seek the return of the yacht, Apandi had replied, “Why would the government claim something that does not belong to them?”

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has alleged that the money used to purchase the US$250 million (RM1 billion) yacht came from 1MDB.

In total, the DOJ is seeking to seize approximately US$1 billion worth of assets which was allegedly bought with 1MDB funds that were misappropriated.

Meanwhile, several opposition MPs questioned the reasons behind the rejection of their questions which were related to 1MDB.

They were Sepang MP Mohamed Hanipa Maidin, Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tzin, Taiping MP Nga Kor Ming, Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad and Kuala Nerus lawmaker Khairuddin Aman Razali.

Nga had asked for 1MDB's debt total, while Khairuddin had asked for a list of 1MDB's debts. Khalid had asked whether the government planned to claim assets that were seized by the DOJ.

Responding to this, Pandikar said he will review the questions and will give his written response accordingly. Mkini