Suspension frenzy to keep "opportunist" "murder" remarks out of Parliament

Anwar, Siva, Azmin, Karpal - we are being targeted by the gov't

Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle

Under pressure, Prime Minister Najib Razak's goverment has gone on a suspension frenzy in a bid to shut up opposition lawmakers, who wanted to table a motion pressuring the U.S. State Department to reveal its diplomatic cables that were recently exposed by WikiLeaks showing the international community's discomfort with Najib because of his involvement in the Altantuya murder case.

"Pandemonium in Parliament with sudden new motion to suspend Karpal Singh, Sivarasa Rasiah and Azmin Ali for six months. This is against the rules of natural justice," said DAP adviser and Ipoh Timur MP Lim Kit Siang.

Siva, the Subang MP, was booted out by a frustrated BN Speaker of Parliament after he cited Standing Orders that stated the reasons why the Speaker had no authority to dismiss the WikiLeaks motion.

"There is a lot of misreporting because the BN is now desperate. All their print and electronic media are twisting the truth. What happened was the Speaker got angry when Siva quoted Standing Orders on the decision to reject the Wiki motion. He ordered Siva out of the Hall and when Azmin (the Gombak MP) stood up and asked why, he was also booted out," Batu MP Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle on Wednesday.

The taboo words - opportunist, murder and incompetent

Indeed, the Najib administration appears to have gone on 'total damage-control mode', barring the mainstream press from mentioning that Singapore officials had told their U.S. counterparts Najib was an "opportunist" who would drag Malaysia down because of his involvement in the Altantuya murder case. The Singaporeans had also said Malaysia was on a "decline" to to its ruling "incompetent politicians".

Altantuya was a go-between in Najib's RM6.7bil submarines deal

In the WikiLeaks cables, Singapore's minister mentor Lee Kuan Yew was also reported to have said he believed Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim had been framed for sodomy by his political enemies. However, the Singapore leader also said he believed Anwar had indeed committed sodomy. Anwar has repeatedly denied the sodomy charges and accused Najib and his wife Rosmah of fabricating the case to derail his political comeback.

Since the Wiki news broke on Sunday, the allegations made against both Najib and Anwar have dominated public interest although the BN government had ordered a blackout on the remarks relating to Najib's indiscretions. At the same time, the BN-controlled media was also given a free hand to do 'hatchet jobs' on Anwar and his PKR party.

Even the Singapore authorities, who would be most alarmed to see Anwar's Pakatan Rakyat coalition wrest federal power which may give impetus to the island republic's fledgling opposition, have studiously avoided mentioning the three key phrases - "opportunist", "murder" and "incompetent politicians".

Reformasi, Singapore-style

In their recent news reports, the Singapore press - well-known to be under Kuan Yew's thumb - only made vague references to "friendly bi-lateral ties" while acknowledging a protest note sent by the Malaysian foreign ministry. But not once did the Singapore media explain why and what the note submitted by Malaysian foreign chief Anifah Aman was protesting.

No political opposition if S'pore is to survive 50 years

"Lee Kuan Yew is afraid that Singaporeans will seek reformasi (or reforms) as the party in Singapore is the same like Umno which has never changed. We are not afraid, confused, or shocked with this allegation," Tian had told a rally on Tuesday night.

"If Utusan published about WikiLeaks on sodomy, why did it not publish about Najib's link to the Altantuya murder which was also said by the same Singapore intelligence. We want Singapore to bring the evidence about the sodomy and the murder of Altantuya to court. I want to propose to the Dewan Rakyat to debate on the issue of WikiLeaks - the sodomy and Altantuya murder and expose all the evidence to the public. Dr M responded for sodomy but what about Altantuya's murder and the link to the PM?" asked Tian.

Earlier, in his rejection, Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia had insisted the WikiLeaks cables were mere speculation by the media and therefore could not be discussed in Parliament. He cited Standing Order 23(1)(i) which forbids discussion of issues based only on media reports.

Nonetheless, Siva argued that Speaker was intentionally misinterpreting his motion.

“My motion was misunderstood. The purpose was not to have Parliament investigate the actual the truth of the matter or if it is speculation, but to debate the topic and bring it into the public arena because there are many dimensions to it, including the security of our country," Siva told Malaysia Chronicle.

As for Karpal, the Bukit Gelugor MP, a motion was tabled to suspend him from Parliament for 6 months for chastising the Rights and Committee's decision to recommend that Anwar be suspended for a speech he made in Parliament earlier this year linking Najib's 1Malaysia slogan to APCO, a U.S. based communications firm with Zionist connections.

The BN-controlled Parliament is due to vote on the motion to suspend Anwar for 6 months on Thursday. None of the 4 lawmakers were given the customary 7-days notice nor was their defense called, sparking loud cries of injustice.

"We are being targeted by the Government," Anwar was reported as saying by Malaysiakini.