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Yes, all Malaysian eyes are on its national capital Kuala Lumpur (KL) today, for three good reasons.
First, by 11.30am, after Question Time which starts at 10am, the Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat (Lower House) of the Malaysian Parliament (pic), Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Haji Mulia would have made known his decision whether to allow an emergency motion of no-confidence against the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to be tabled by Opposition leader Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
Wan Azizah, who is President of the Parti KeAdilan Rakyat (PKR), a partner of the opposition coalition of Pakatan Rakyat (People's Alliance), gave the notice for the emergency motion to the Speaker (who is a Sabahan, hooray!) last Friday. Under the Standing Orders of Parliament, the notice for an emergency motion must be submitted to the Speaker's office 24 working hours before the day it is to be tabled.
The Speaker will then decide, on the day concerned, either in Chambers or inside the House itself; normally after the question-and-answer session when other business of the day begins. At the time of my writing (almost noon), I am still waiting for my SMS News Alert from The Star, Malaysia's leading English tabloid daily.
I don't mean to be negative-minded or pessimistic, but experience tells me that it would probably be disallowed. Which brings us to Reason No. 2 - Police yesterday (despite being a Sunday when government offices in Malaysia are closed) obtained a Court Order banning the public from gathering within a 5km radius of Parliament House today, Monday. It was apparently prompted by rumours that former Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and his supporters might gather outside Parliament grounds to protest should the Speaker decide against allowing the motion to be debated. Anwar, husband of Wan Azizah, has been the de facto leader of the loose opposition alliance following his release from prison a couple of years ago. He led the opposition to a good outing in the March 8 election, denying the BN a two-thirds majority in Parliament and taking control of 5 state governments, something unprecedented in Malaysia's half-a-century history.
Copies of the Court Order was pasted at KL Sentral, the capital's land transportation hub, yesterday among other places to alert the public. In addition, all roads leading to Parliament were blocked since 7 this morning; apparently to prevent opposition sympathizers from gathering as rumoured. The road blocks, as expected, caused massive traffic jams in KL this morning as thousands of office and factory workers head to work. This prompted the minister-in-charge of the police, Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar to issue a public apology late this morning, saying that the road blocks were for the public's own security.
As if this was not enough, Parliament officials announced over the weekend (despite it not being working days) that Members of Parliament (MPs) would from Monday be no longer allowed to bring guests to the House. I do not know about now, but when I was still serving Sabah MPs between the 1980s-90s, an MP was entitled to bring a maximum of 10 guests each. In view of the tremendous increase in number of MPs since then, they must have been lowered the figure. But let's say an MP nowadays can bring 5 at a time - there are 82 Opposition MPs, so x5 gives you 410 (unwelcomed) guests, big enough a numer to cause a scene or stir or even disturbance in Parliament should the Speaker rules against allowing the motion.
The 3rd and final reason: Anwar, the 'Prime Minister-in-waiting', is scheduled to show up at a police station for his statement to be taken in conjunction with a police report lodged by his former aide that he was sodomised 8 times by the former deputy premier and finance minister, who was once regarded by former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as "one of the best finance ministers in the region." Lady Thatcher also said that "if finance ministers are transferable, I wouldn't mind having him transferred to Britain."
Anwar spent some years in jail from late1990s to mid-2000s also on a sodomy charge. He was released after Malaysia's highest court overturned the High Court's decision which found him guilty of sodomy. He was however barred from active politics including standing for election as his other conviction, of corruption by influencing the police in their investigations, stood. That ban expired recently and Anwar is expected to contest in a by-election to be caused by the 'resignation' of one of his PKR MPs to enable him to become an MP and, perhaps, eventually, the Prime Minister.
My Say: First, they confined reporters and photographers to a corner in Parliament House, restricting their movements and freedom to discharge their duties. That restriction was lifted after protests including from some of the MPs themselves, both from the opposition and government backbenchers. Now, they stop MPs from brining guests (which is a normal practice in Parliament throughout the world). I wonder what's next? Stopping reporters from covering Parliament sittings altogether or asking MPs to take turns to attend Parliament?
First, by 11.30am, after Question Time which starts at 10am, the Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat (Lower House) of the Malaysian Parliament (pic), Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Haji Mulia would have made known his decision whether to allow an emergency motion of no-confidence against the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to be tabled by Opposition leader Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
Wan Azizah, who is President of the Parti KeAdilan Rakyat (PKR), a partner of the opposition coalition of Pakatan Rakyat (People's Alliance), gave the notice for the emergency motion to the Speaker (who is a Sabahan, hooray!) last Friday. Under the Standing Orders of Parliament, the notice for an emergency motion must be submitted to the Speaker's office 24 working hours before the day it is to be tabled.
The Speaker will then decide, on the day concerned, either in Chambers or inside the House itself; normally after the question-and-answer session when other business of the day begins. At the time of my writing (almost noon), I am still waiting for my SMS News Alert from The Star, Malaysia's leading English tabloid daily.
I don't mean to be negative-minded or pessimistic, but experience tells me that it would probably be disallowed. Which brings us to Reason No. 2 - Police yesterday (despite being a Sunday when government offices in Malaysia are closed) obtained a Court Order banning the public from gathering within a 5km radius of Parliament House today, Monday. It was apparently prompted by rumours that former Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and his supporters might gather outside Parliament grounds to protest should the Speaker decide against allowing the motion to be debated. Anwar, husband of Wan Azizah, has been the de facto leader of the loose opposition alliance following his release from prison a couple of years ago. He led the opposition to a good outing in the March 8 election, denying the BN a two-thirds majority in Parliament and taking control of 5 state governments, something unprecedented in Malaysia's half-a-century history.
Copies of the Court Order was pasted at KL Sentral, the capital's land transportation hub, yesterday among other places to alert the public. In addition, all roads leading to Parliament were blocked since 7 this morning; apparently to prevent opposition sympathizers from gathering as rumoured. The road blocks, as expected, caused massive traffic jams in KL this morning as thousands of office and factory workers head to work. This prompted the minister-in-charge of the police, Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar to issue a public apology late this morning, saying that the road blocks were for the public's own security.
As if this was not enough, Parliament officials announced over the weekend (despite it not being working days) that Members of Parliament (MPs) would from Monday be no longer allowed to bring guests to the House. I do not know about now, but when I was still serving Sabah MPs between the 1980s-90s, an MP was entitled to bring a maximum of 10 guests each. In view of the tremendous increase in number of MPs since then, they must have been lowered the figure. But let's say an MP nowadays can bring 5 at a time - there are 82 Opposition MPs, so x5 gives you 410 (unwelcomed) guests, big enough a numer to cause a scene or stir or even disturbance in Parliament should the Speaker rules against allowing the motion.
The 3rd and final reason: Anwar, the 'Prime Minister-in-waiting', is scheduled to show up at a police station for his statement to be taken in conjunction with a police report lodged by his former aide that he was sodomised 8 times by the former deputy premier and finance minister, who was once regarded by former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as "one of the best finance ministers in the region." Lady Thatcher also said that "if finance ministers are transferable, I wouldn't mind having him transferred to Britain."
Anwar spent some years in jail from late1990s to mid-2000s also on a sodomy charge. He was released after Malaysia's highest court overturned the High Court's decision which found him guilty of sodomy. He was however barred from active politics including standing for election as his other conviction, of corruption by influencing the police in their investigations, stood. That ban expired recently and Anwar is expected to contest in a by-election to be caused by the 'resignation' of one of his PKR MPs to enable him to become an MP and, perhaps, eventually, the Prime Minister.
My Say: First, they confined reporters and photographers to a corner in Parliament House, restricting their movements and freedom to discharge their duties. That restriction was lifted after protests including from some of the MPs themselves, both from the opposition and government backbenchers. Now, they stop MPs from brining guests (which is a normal practice in Parliament throughout the world). I wonder what's next? Stopping reporters from covering Parliament sittings altogether or asking MPs to take turns to attend Parliament?
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