Shahrir Abdul Samad's shock resignation as the Backbencher's Club chief gets the thumbs-up from malaysiakini readers.

C Anthony: Hats off to Shahrir. His bold action to support a motion by the opposition for the interest of parliamentary democracy should be commended. It is sign of maturity in Malaysian politics. Unfortunately, our present-day politicians are not ready for such maturity. Only when the ruling BN can accept the opposition as equal in struggling for the betterment of our nation can we have real democracy at work. Shahrir is doing a fine job and should continue to as chairman of BBC.

Norman Fernandez: Though I am from DAP, I must commend Shahrir Abdul Samad (BN-Johor Bahru) principled and courageous decision in supporting the motion proposed by Lim Kit Siang. Integrity and transparency which seems to be a core value of the prime minister's Islam Hadhari has been proved to be mere rhetoric. When the call came for MPs to come clean and be accountable, only one from Barisan Nasional was prepared to stand up, break ranks and walk the talk.

HL Too: Yes, like most of the backbenchers, I too was shocked by Shahrir's decision to quit the Backbencher's Club. I did not expect him to demonstrate such outrage over a matter of principle. That was because I too thought that all MPs are spineless and lack principles like Ahmad Zainuddin Omar (BN-Larut) or Mohamed Aziz (BN-Sri Gading) or even Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz.

In fact, the minister is even worse when he said that they do not support motions tabled by the opposition. Therefore, support is not based on the merit of the motion but who is tabling the motion. So much for principles. Dr M is right when he said that some people "are half-past-six and lack guts". He could very well be talking about the members of parliament - with the notable exception of Shahrir.

Citizen KJ John: I respect YB Shahrir's decision to quit as a matter of principle. After all, he has always argued for the integrity and independence of Parliament. Now that one of its members has been publicly accused of trying to use undue influence against the customs department. We must not only respect Customs for their stand on the matter but more so for NST for the courage to make the issue a front-page story. After all, PM Pak Lah cornerstone of the BN campaign at the 2004 elections was anti-corruption. The report is either true or false, but surely the members of parliament must be keen to know if the accusation is a fact. If not, the NST must be taken to task for the false accusation.

Why should Parliament, the highest institution of governance in this nation have to wait for either the police or Customs or AG to take action? Parliament must become the case-example of integrity. A fish, is it said, rots from the head. That is YB Shahrir's core concern. The Parliament has in fact enough internal processes to deal with this issue and enough due processes for it. So, I find it untenable for the BN MPs to blindly make this issue political when it is one about the integrity of MPs and the integrity of Parliament itself at the end of the day. Sorry but I have to say - tak malu BN MPs! And well done YB Shahrir and YB Lim Kit Siang! Talk is cheap, action is always louder than talk!

GKS: The news of the resignation of Shahrir comes as a shock to me, and to many other Malaysians. Shahrir has been very instrumental in balancing between what the people want and what our elected MPs give. He has also been a very good mediator in many on-going problems, such as the Proton and AP case.

His resignation has just added a million tons of credibility and respect to his name. He has proven to be a man of honour, proving that the BN elected representatives are not puppets to accept any wrongdoing by their own man.

He did the right thing, which is to support the motion to refer the accused MP to the privileges committee. However, our fellow gutless MPs in Parliament were not able to show the courage and respect to follow suit. This shows how our Parliament lacks the credible and respected MPs we very much crave for. I weep for my country as there are only so few good men left in Parliament

Dhammika: It is indeed a let-down to Shahrir for his inability to get support from his BN colleagues to back the opposition leader to refer the accused MP to the privileges committee. It is also unbelievable for the accused MP to induce the Customs for a favour. This revelation is shocking because we thought all elected representative have taken the instruction to be clean and transparent. The ACA must move in since it has now come the knowledge of the rakyat and the PM. Until such time that the 18 big VIP cases are exposed and investigated, corruption will still be rampant. I hope the PM start to get very serious about this without fear and favour. Let us all wipe out the greater evils that is still haunting the country.

HJ Angus: At last we have a man of principles among the BN Mps. The Customs should have lodged a police report against the MP too. Are we to assume that some MPs are the stool pigeons of the rich and corrupt?

The following are comments from readers on other reports. This one is on Politicians: Yes, we use bomohs!

Jaafar: We live in modern times and yet some of our political leaders are still stuck in past centuries. These are the kind of people who are prepared to sell their souls to the devils. Employing bomoh amount to syirik (blasphemous). God Almighty had reserved them hell. Can they, with such mentality, ever do good service to the public?

This sort of people just want the worldly well-being for themselves only. They simply want the money that comes with the territory; not the responsibility and the accountability. These lost souls have no regards for hereafter. A pious Muslim will be dead scared to assume a public post lest he cannot do justice to the job. Here we have these ignorant Umno leaders and their equally stupid supporters jumping straight into the hell-fire. Forget about holding the interest of Islam.

Such people knows nothing of Islam but the worldly glitters. In the Quran, these people are those who have bartered their destiny in hereafter for the miserable and fleeting world. Do these sort of people respect the rights of others? They will readily rig the poll to win especially easy with our compliant election commission. These people have robbed the rakyat of possibly good leaders and position themselves in. The consequences is reflected by the high level of corruption in Malaysia now!

These people may call themselves Muslim and may dress like one but in reality the core is munafik (hypocrite). The average rakyat cannot discern the real thing and every election they voted the Umno in. With so many scandals going on, still many people are blind!

Mazni Zambri: For those politicians who use bomohs without syafaat , please do not act like Muslims. So, please do not talk about Islam and modernity as bomohism (I stress, without syafaat ) brings us back to the times jahilliyah (the dark ages).

On Temple demolition: Court injunction sought

MZH: Any place of worship, be it a temple, mosque or church, shall only be deemed for relocation in case where it causes distress to the society not by the means of religious sentiments it might cause to the majority, but by means of restriction to flow of traffic or other negative effect to the common good of the surrounding citizens that the presence of the place of worship

has caused.

If the demolition of the temple is done without any substantial basis, then the action is totally unsubscribed by the practicing Muslims who believe in the protection of all places of worship regardless of creed or belief system. Islam protects the rights of minorities, and I am truly ashamed if the temple is demolished on the mere basis of unlawful occupation. I sincerely hope malaysiakini can help shed some light on the cause of the temple demolition from both sides without bias to ensure unnecessary sentiments do not arise within religious groups.

On Complex problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah

ET: So we can't send them back to their home country without proper papers. Of course, we can't just throw them back in to the sea. It is only fair that we pay them if they are contributing to the workforce so they can feed their families. And being good hearted Malaysians who respect human rights, we have to put their kids in school and provide medical care. If they make enough money we should even tax them, right?

Any problem with the above? No, not for me. But... Najib, how did they get their blue ICs and MyKads meant for Malaysian citizens? Why do they get bumiputera status? ?And how did they contributed to your party Umno by securing more than half the seats in Sabah's state assembly?

We can have sympathy and compassion for people who are displaced from the homeland by war or by economic hardship. But perhaps we have shown enough patience for those Malaysians who are corrupt, who abuse their positions and power for personal and/or political gains, and for those who put personal, partisan or communal interests above our national interests.

On 'Left out' disabled group cries foul

Siew Eng: How does the Klang Municipal Council expect to implement disabled-friendly facilities without getting people with disabilities (PWD) to be on the policy committee? This may have been their modus operandi as regards governing districts (i.e. without consulting the tax-paying public on the facilities needed) and while they may have been getting away with it because citizens can't fight back through local council elections (here's another cry for that!), surely the councillors must realise that catering to the needs of PWDs requires an insight that they cannot possibly have, being able-bodied and impervious to the challenges faced by PWDs?

It just goes to show, cakap tak sama bikin . The council's overtures are insincere. The tax-paying public, i.e. the council's paymasters, should give them a good talking-to.

To all able-bodied people, in case you think this doesn't concern you, just remember: The day may come, sooner than you think, when you will develop a disability. An accident (and looking at how we drive and the conditions of our roads, that happens a lot) can leave you disabled easily. Also, more and more people are ageing.

You're not able-bodied, but temporarily-abled.