Never before in the nation’s history has there been such a massive police mobilisation, paralysing the Federal Capital and the Klang Valley as today creating a massive traffic chaos, when there is totally no cause. It is a preview of what a Police State could be like.
In the past two days, the police had created infernal traffic congestions with roadblocks in Kuala Lumpur and the surrounding areas locking up the Klang Valley, purportedly to forestall a Pakatan Rakyat public gathering or demonstration in or near Parliament because of the Standing Order 18 no-confidence motion today which is to be presented by the Parliamentary Opposition Leader, Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Ismail after question time at 11.30 am.
The Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia not only rejected Azizah’s no-confidence motion, he also rejected my motion under Standing Order 26(1)(p) to refer the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan to the Parliamentary Privileges Committee for failing to comply with the parliamentary motion dated 28th April 2008 directing the IGP to ensure that MPs are not obstructed in their passage to and from parliamentary meetings.
Many MPs from both sides of the House met with police obstruction today and did not have free passage to Parliament, which is against the specific parliamentary directive to the IGP contained in the parliamentary motion of April 28, 2008.
No good or convincing reasons were given for the rejection of both motions by the Speaker. In the protracted arguments in the Dewan Rakyat over my proposed privilege motion, I had occasion to remark that a Speaker should not speak too much – and that the best Speaker is one who does not speak.
Today is indeed a black day for Parliament. Under the doctrine of separation of powers, Parliament is co-equal to the Executive and should be fully informed by the police of any developments justifying the adoption of extraordinary measures hampering not only the free movement of MPs, but also free public access to Parliament.
In this particular case, the police had no cause whatsoever to launch a massive mobilisation causing great inconvenience and even hardships to members of the public for three days, as Pakatan Rakyat had not organised or issued any call for any gathering or demonstration in or near Parliament today.
This was why there was pandemonium in Parliament this morning for some 45 minutes – the first episode over my motion to refer the IGP to Privileges Committee and the second episode over the rejection of Azizah’s Standing Order 18 motion of no-confidence in the Prime Minister.
The Pakatan Rakyat MPs staged a walkout in protest against the rejection of the no-confidence motion as well as the synthetic security crisis created by the police in the past three days causing great inconveniences to the public when there was no cause or justification – and will boycott the rest of the parliamentary sitting today.
Video clips of the two episodes are available as follows:
Motion under Standing Order 26(1)(p) [Part 1 of 4]
Motion under Standing Order 26(1)(p) [Part 2 of 4]
Motion under Standing Order 26(1)(p) [Part 3 of 4]
Motion under Standing Order 26(1)(p) [Part 4 of 4]
No Confidence under Standing Order 18(1) [Part 1 of 2]
No Confidence under Standing Order 18(1) [Part 2 of 2]