[UPDATED] Shahidan calls for debate on PM’s legal actions against opposition

KUALA LUMPUR – Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim (Arau-PN) has proposed a debate in the Dewan Rakyat on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s (Tambun-PH) recent slew of legal actions against opposition politicians.

He said this has created a sense of fear among members of Parliament today.

“MPs have expressed fear towards the prime minister pertaining to the legal actions taken against politicians,” he said in the Dewan Rakyat.

Shahidan proposed debating the matter under Standing Order 18(1) of the Dewan Rakyat, which grants ordinary MPs the chance to move a motion to discuss a defined matter of urgent public importance.  

The former Umno man, interestingly, has not filed a motion to the Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Seri Johari Abdul over the issue.

“I have not had the opportunity to do so,” Shahidan said when asked by Johari if he has submitted a motion, as per required.

The speaker then instructed Shahidan to write in if he wishes to pursue the matter.

Standing Order 18(2) stipulates a member of the House who wishes to discuss any defined matter of public importance to submit a written notification to the speaker at least 24 hours before the commencement of a sitting.

The notification shall also include an explanation to the effect that the matter in question is indeed definite, urgent and of public importance.

The speaker may then choose to reject the motion unless he is satisfied that it fulfils all three aforementioned requirements.

Shahidan’s remark today comes just a day after Anwar sent a letter of demand to Datuk Awang Solahuddin Hashim (Pendang-PN) over his alleged defamatory comments made to the press outside Parliament a day earlier. 

In the letter, Anwar’s lawyers cited a news article quoting Awang as accusing the prime minister of selective prosecution, which he said was allegedly worse than when former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was in power.

The letter also cited the PAS MP’s statements claiming that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s prosecution of former Bersatu information chief Datuk Wan Saiful Wan Jan, who is charged for receiving RM6.9 million in bribes, is the beginning of Anwar’s “games”. 

Anwar has demanded that Awang publicly retract his statements in full, issue an apology in publications chosen by the prime minister, pay damages and sign a declaration to never repeat the allegations again. 

Previously, the Pakatan Harapan chairman had initiated legal actions against several other politicians for defamatory and slanderous remarks they issued, most notably against former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who accused the former of pocketing RM15 million as Selangor’s economic adviser. 

Others to have been in the firing line include Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor, Perak PAS commissioner Razman Zakaria, Baling MP Hassan Saad, and Kuala Terengganu MP Datuk Ahmad Amzad Hashim. 

Perikatan Nasional supporters have since begun describing Anwar as “Bapa Saman Negara” (Father of Lawsuits). – The Vibes, February 23, 2023