The ruckus on the opposition bench in the Dewan Rakyat last Thursday was merely an attempt to force the speaker to postpone a motion to suspend four of its members, claimed Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz.

NONE “They knew it was the last day of the session and if the motion was postponed, they would not be suspended,” said Nazri during a special one-hour 'live' interview on RTM1 last night.

Nazri’s appearance on the programme appeared to be a damage-control move following the suspension of Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim and parliamentarians R Sivarasa (PKR-Subang), Azmin Ali (PKR-Gombak) and Karpal Singh (DAP-Bukit Gelugor).

The four had claimed that BN was using bullying tactics to silence them and that they were never given a chance to defend themselves properly.

Nazri trashed this, claiming instead that Pakatan’s “crazy” behaviour in the Dewan Rakyat had forced speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia to call for a vote on the motion to suspend Anwar without a debate.

“They say it was a conspiracy between the speaker and me. It was they who conspired to stall my motion (of suspension), which was already in the Order Paper for the day… It was the opposition who denied Anwar (a chance to) defend himself,” he said.

Anwar was NONE suspended for six months for claiming that Apco Worldwide - a public relations firm which advises the government - had links with the Zionist regime.

The rights and privileges committee held an inquiry and found Anwar guilty, but he said this was unfair because he was never given an opportunity to defend himself during the  proceedings.

Azmin, Sivarasa and Karpal were suspended for leaking information about the committee’s findings before its report was tabled in the House.

Nazri insisted that Anwar had been given the opportunity to appear before the committee but that he had tried to delay the proceedings.

“He asked for his lawyer to be present, and when this was allowed, he wanted the lawyer to be granted the right to cross-examine. He tries to attack on procedural matters, just like in his (sodomy) trial," said Nazri, who is in charge of parliamentary affairs.

“This is not a court. The committee’s role is to investigate and then the sentence will be meted out by the House.

“If he wanted to defend himself then he should have done so in the debate… I had informed the opposition to prepare five people to debate the motion, and had even cleared the day solely for this."

He said that Anwar had been given a week to explain himself in March in relation to his allegations about Apco Worldwide, but had failed to do so.

NONE “I have brought the motion to suspend parliamentarians against others before - (opposition MPs) Karpal, Lim Kit Siang, Gobind Singh Deo and Fong Po Kuan have all gotten it from me, but all of them accepted it and there was no such hue and cry.

“Why the special treatment for Anwar? Is it because he is god-sent like his wife claims?... They were scared to debate because they knew I was right."

Nazri also called the opposition's display of placards in the Dewan Rakyat as "shameful and despicable".

'Gentlemanly' BN

BN leaders who have been suspended from the Selangor and Penang assemblies had taken it on the chin, noted Nazri, proving that the coalition is more “gentlemanly” than Pakatan Rakyat, which claims to bring reform but only displays “uncivilised” behaviour.

Confident of his conduct, Nazri said he had acted in the proper manner and that he believes Pakatan’s efforts to take the matter to court would be a “waste of time”.

“We have separation of po palace of justice istana kehakiman wers. The judiciary has no jurisdiction in matters decided in Parliament because Parliament is supreme, just like we can’t tell the judiciary to hasten Anwar’s (sodomy) trial.

“We respect the judiciary, that’s why the four MPs were suspended with pay because the court had said in the case of Gobind that withholding his allowance was unconstitutional.

“It is Pakatan that has no respect for the court by suspending our representatives without pay."

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