Enough is enough, stop playing politics to make a mountain out of a molehill over PRK Vice President and Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar’s recent visit to the Philippines and unplanned meeting with Jacel Kiram, as if the country does not have weighty problems on hand.
If Nurul has traitorous intent, she would have ensured that there would be no photographic evidence of her meeting with Jacel, let alone allowing the photograph to be to be uploaded on FaceBook for the whole world to know.
This bolstered Nurul’s statement of innocence, her expression of regret over her photograph with Sulu “princess” Jacel Kiram and reiteration of her sympathies and support for the fallen heroes from the army, military and the public who perished as a result of the Lahad Datuk intrusion in 2013.
Unless the authorities have evidence otherwise, the police should accept at face value Nurul’s explanation that she had not sought out or set up any meeting with Jacel Kiram and that Jacel was one of the 15 guests invited by her hosts – the council on Philippines affairs and the Asian Institute for Democracy, the office of the City Mayor of Manila and the office of the Vice President of the Philippines during her visit to Manila in connection with the call by the United Nation Working Group of Arbitrary Detention for the immediate release of Anwar Ibrahim from Sungai Buloh prison.
The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Azalina Othman Said made another howler when she said the government might refer Nurul Izzah to the Parliamentary Rights and Privileges Committee.
Would she suggest that Nurul and the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak should both be referred to the Parliamentary Rights and Privileges Committee as Najib was the centre of a similar controversy, when a photograph appeared on the social media last month of the Malaysian Prime Minister shaking hands with the Jewish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the United Nations.
Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein has said it was “despicable” for Nurul to be photographed with Jacel. Did he say that it was “despicable” for Najib to be photographed shaking hands with Netanyahu in the United Nations last month.
The Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said Nurul may be investigated by the police under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (Sosma) and the Penal Code for her meeting with Jacel. Did Khalid ever direct the police to investigate the Prime Minister under Sosma and Penal Code for his handshake with Netanyahu during his recent visit to the United Nations?
As Nurul’s photographed meeting with Jacel was as innocent as the photographed handshake between Najib and the Israeli Prime Minister, it is time for the issues to placed in proper perspectives and for all concerned, in particular the Deputy Prime Minister, several Cabinet Ministers and the No. 1 Policeman in the country, to move on and to return to the many more weighty, important and urgent national problems awaiting attention and resolution.