Poor Mohd Aziz, Poor Moktar Radin, Poor Parliament

The two touted Barisan Nasional “resident firebrand” MPs, Mohd Aziz (Sri Gading) and Bung Moktar Radin (Kinabatangan) were not breathing fire in Parliament yesterday. Although garbed in sackcloth and gulping water, they were not prepared for self-immolation but wanted me to be immolated.

To demonstrate their penitence for daring to speak up and do what was right in Parliament on Monday, i.e. to support my privilege motion under Dewan Rakyat Standing Order 26(1)(p) to refer the Minister for International Trade and Industry, Rafidah Aziz and the MITI secretary-general Sidek Hassan to the Committee of Privileges, the two government “resident firebrands” in Parliament were prepared not only to eat their words, deny that they had supported my motion but even to launch personal attacks on me to prove their loyalty not just to Barisan Nasional but to their continued privileges as BN MPs.

I had made clear when the 2006 budget debate resumed yesterday that I was in full sympathy and support of Mohd Aziz and Bung Mohtar who were being hauled up by the BN leadership for breach of party discipline.

Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak had said at the Parliament lobby on Monday that under the BN’s policy and practice, BN MPs cannot support a motion by an Opposition party and that the matter would be brought before the Cabinet and “whatever follow-ups will be made by Cabinet”.(Question – what business has the Cabinet to discuss an issue which strictly concerns BN party discipline?)

I had started my resumed speech on the 2006 Budget speaking on the injustice of such a party rule, publicly appealing to the Prime Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to use his good office not only to spare Mohd Aziz and Bung Mohtar from any penalty but to scrap such an undemocratic rule. In fact, DAP and PAS MPs subsequently sent a memo drafted by MP for Tanjong Chow Kon Yeow urging the PM to spare the duo from punishment for supporting the Opposition Leader’s privilege motion against Rafidah and Sidek.

I conceded that while it is established convention that MPs are required to comply with party discipline and follow the party whip to party policies in motions or bills, on matters concerning parliamentary privilege to protect the dignity and honour of Parliament which does not involve party policies, MPs should be given the leeway to decide the issue on its merits – particularly in a privilege motion under Standing Order 26(1)(p) which requires instant decision in dealing instantaneously with breaches of privilege “when it occurred”.

There were no thanks or appreciation from the duo for my standing up in Parliament to speak up publicly in their defence. To save their own skin, such Asian values and tradition were jettisoned. They not only wanted to dissociate from me by denying that they had supported my privilege motion the previous day, they wanted to be seen mauling me with their attacks and character-assassination.

This prompted my comment when I interrupted Bung Mohtar in his speech when mounting an attack on me: “So pathetic. You must do all this to save yourselves? Poor Seri Gading, poor Kinabatangan. Poor souls.”

Mohd Aziz and Moktar Radin should have taken the rap from their party with fortitude and honour. They would have earned the respect from both friend and foe.

They should have stood by their conviction and principle that Rafidah and Sidek had committed a grave breach of parliamentary privilege with the latter’s insulting and contemptuous letter to MPs to revise the Minister’s controversial written answer to me on the APs scandal, seeking to withdraw the partial and selective list of MPs allocated APs and should be referred to the Committee of Privileges. They should tell their party leadership that they are prepared to face the consequences if they had thereby breached party discipline (as BN MPs are generally unaware that there is such a BN rule that BN MPs cannot support a motion by an Opposition party, even when it is right and good for the country).

This would be the reaction and response of men of honour in such a predicament. Bung Mohtar said in his speech yesterday, when referring to the APs scandal: “It's not that I do not like the minister but I love my country more.”

What a fine moment for Malaysian Parliament if both Mohd Aziz and Bung Mohtar had told the BN leadershhp: “Its not that we do not like the Barisan Nasional but we love our country more!”

After all, it was Mohd Aziz who seconded my privilege motion the first time to refer Rafidah and Sidek to the Committee of Privileges, making it a cross-party motion with the support of MPs from all political parties inside the House on both sides of the political divide.

The motion received strong backing from Bung Mohtar as well as vociferous support from the majority of BN MPs present in the House – and I am prepared to list these MPs who expressed their support from their seats one by one if this version is challenged. Is there any BN MP who was present during the time, when Deputy Speaker Lim Si Cheng was in the Chair, who dare to declare publicly that he had not supported the privilege motion and would not have voted for it had it been put to a vote?

It was again Mohd Aziz and Bung Mohtar who egged me to re-introduce the privilege motion when Dr. Yusof bin Yacob replaced Lim Si Cheng in the Chair, and I thank them for the pressure.

There is no doubt that if the privilege motion had been put to a vote whether the first time with Lim Si Cheng was in the Chair or the second time with Dr. Yusof in the Chair, it would have been carried with overwhelming majority support if not unanimously.

Things changed completely during the 15-minute recess for Dr. Yusuf to consult and reconsider the contention by MPs from all political parties that the Chair had no right to usurp the powers of the House to decide on the privilege motion (or in my words, “the Chair is the servant of the House and not the other way round, where the MPs are the servants of the Chair”).

Both Mohd Aziz and Bung Mohtar were “tamed” by the “resident Minister” Nazri Aziz and both did not even dare to enter the House when it resumed for a decision on the second privilege motion, when Dr. Yusuf returned with the foregone conclusion to reject the plrivilege motion a second time.

The ”taming” of the two “resident firebrand BN MPs” is a shameful episode of the present Parliament. Nobody would blame the duo for being tamed. But they have only themselves to blame for acting without honour and principle after being “tamed”.