GEORGE TOWN – The Madani Government Political Secretaries Council has condemned Putrajaya MP Datuk Dr Radzi Jinin’s alleged unparliamentary conduct. He had refused to heed the directive of the Speaker, Tan Sri Johari Abdul, during the winding-up session of the august house.
In a statement issued by the council’s chairperson, Datuk Dr Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin, the council unanimously wants Radzi to be censured by the Dewan Rakyat for his conduct when Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was winding up the review of the 12th Malaysia Plan.
The speaker had repeatedly abided by various Standing Orders and regulations in trying to pacify and restore order to Parliament but Radzi continued to defy him, said Shamsul in a statement shared here.
“It boiled down to Radzi having a wrong impression of Anwar’s use of the term Putrajaya administration. Radzi wrongly interpreted it as an insult to him personally and intentionally disrupted the proceedings. Anwar had clearly defined it as the previous Putrajaya administration, and it was not aimed at Radzi.”
The speaker had accepted Anwar’s clarification, but Radzi continued to take a confrontational stance, driven by emotions until he ended up disrupting the winding up for 20 minutes.
In view of this, Shamsul urged the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reforms) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said to initiate the process to suspend Radzi as a deterrent towards future conduct of elected representatives in Parliament.
“It is unfortunate that a former senior minister refused to heed the principles of Rukun Negara and his actions captured live on various media streams have shown that his conduct should not be left unattended.”
Radzi’s action also sparked a walkout of all Perikatan Nasional (PN) opposition members from Dewan Rakyat. It came during moments when Anwar was trying to clarify that his Madani national unity government had nothing to do with the decision by the previous Attorney-General (AG) to stop proceeding with the prosecution of Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in his corruption trial.
The decision popularly known as the discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) verdict had rifled up the opposition and segments of non-governmental organisations, who reacted by alleging that there was interference in the judiciary by the government.
Anwar on countless occasions said that he had abided by the principle that the AG has the sole discretion to decide on court cases without any interference or pressure from the government of the day. – The Vibes, September 21, 2023
