Malacca Chief Minister Adly Zahari has dismissed the opposition's call for state exco member G Saminathan, who was charged with supporting the now-defunct Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam, to vacant his state seat.
He cited former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, who is facing multiple charges linked to 1MDB scandal, to substantiate his remark.
"We reject terrorism. But at the same time, we should remind ourselves that justice should be given to those who have yet to be found guilty," he said when winding-up the day's debate at Malacca State Legislative Assembly today.
"This is among the principles we uphold. As we have mentioned, the honourable Pekan MP (Najib) [...] although he was charged, but he still remains as the member of Parliament," he said.
"So when we ask the people's representatives to vacate their seats, we also have to reflect on ourselves too," added Adly.
He was responding to Abdul Ghafaar Atan (BN-Asahan) who demanded Saminathan vacate his Gadek constituency seat willingly to allow for a by-election to allow his successor to serve the people.
Saminathan and his colleague in DAP, Seremban Jaya assemblyperson P Gunasekaran, were among the 12 arrested and charged recently over purported links to the LTTE.
Meanwhile, state exco member Tey Kok Kiew said the voters in Gadek want Saminathan to stay on as their elected representative.
"I went to Gadek and met the people and the village community management council there. I am confident that nobody wants him to resign," said Tey.
He slammed Abdul Ghafaar and his colleagues for commenting on the LTTE issue as though those charged in court were terrorists.
"But there were no weapons (discovered by the police), no pistols and bombs at all," he said.
As for the charge against Saminathan, Tey said he (Saminathan) had only attended a memorial event and this was known by the police.
Tey stressed that the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma), which was to detain the 12, should be abolished. - Mkini
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.