‘BN gave Anwar every chance’
By Patrick Lee, Free Malaysia Today
KUALA LUMPUR: The Barisan Nasional denied that it did not give the opposition a chance to debate on today’s parliamentary suspensions.
Khairy Jamaluddin (Rembau-BN) said that BN MPs were prepared to debate the motion to suspend Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, but were stopped because of the chaos in the House.
“We don’t want (to show) the picture that Anwar was not given a chance to defend himself. We were ready to debate the motion to suspend him, but the opposition didn’t give us a good chance (suasana) to debate the motion,” he said at the Parliament lobby today.
Khairy said that his attempts to air his views in the House were constantly interrupted by the opposition MPs’ loud protests.
He added that Dewan Rakyat Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia tried to give Anwar a chance to debate, but was unable to do so because of the shouting from the Pakatan Rakyat MPs.
“It was impossible to debate the proposal. Anwar did not control the MPs, and because of this, we couldn’t debate,” Khairy said.
“We did what we felt was right. And the government was left with no choice, but to back the motion and suspend him.”
He said that if the Speaker was as biased as Anwar claimed, there would have been no debate over the suspension of Karpal Singh (Bukit Gelugor-DAP), Sivarasa Rasiah (Subang-PKR) and Azmin Ali (Gombak-PKR).
“We could have just bulldozed the proposal on the second motion. We were given due process to debate,” he said.
Even so, none of the opposition MPs had re-entered the House after they left it in protest, leaving it to be filled with BN and BN-friendly MPs.
‘Not right way for a democracy’
Abdul Rahman Dahlan (Kota Belud-BN) also said that the Speaker could not be considered biased as he was not allowed to debate or vote in the motion.
P Kamalanathan (Hulu Selangor-BN) also panned the opposition for bringing placards into the House. “This is not the right way for a democracy. Today’s issue is about getting the statement from Anwar,” he said.
Kamalanathan also said that Anwar had never given an answer over the Apco question. “Until today, he has never stated his stand, but has always changed his topic (when we asked him),” he said.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nazri Abdul Aziz said that Anwar could have explained himself many times over his statement, but chose not to.
“They (opposition MPs) were given many chances, especially Anwar in April. He was given a week to explain himself and take back his statement. In the second session, he was also given a chance. Here, he was given two-and-a-half months, but he didn’t take it,” he said.
Nazri said that the ruckus in the House today was an opposition ploy to drag out the Apco charge over to next year.
“I know all his (Anwar’s) moves. It was very embarrassing, and shameful to parliamentary democracy,” he said, referring to the placards brought in by the Pakatan MPs.
He added that although the four Opposition MPs had been suspended, they would still keep their allowances. “All MPs are still having their allowances. I give him (Anwar) a chance. He can go on a long holiday,” he said mockingly.
