I will ask for a third time in the MQT on Tuesday the question what the government is doing to purge the country of the infamy of a “global kleptocracy” – a test of whether Malaysian Parliament is first or third world Parliament

I will ask for a third time in the third session of Minister’s Question Time (MQT) next Tuesday the question what the government is doing to purge the country of the infamy of a “global kleptocracy”, which will be a test of whether the Malaysian Parliament is capable of becoming a first-world Parliament or is destined to be relegated to a third-world Parliament status.

I had boycotted the two MQTs last Tuesday and Thursday in protest agains the parliamentary charade pretending that Malaysia’s infamy for being a “global kleptocracy” does not exist.

I had on both MQT occasions submitted a question to ask the Prime Minister what action the government was taking to cleanse and purge the national infamy of being regarded world-wide as a “global kleptocracy”, but on both occasions, the question was not picked by the Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia, as one of the three questions for answer during the MQT.

During the first day of Parliament last Monday, the Speaker made a most shocking and extraordinary ruling, barring all questions on the US Department of Justice (DOJ) lawsuit filed on July 20 seeking forfeiture of US$1billion 1MDB-linked assets in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland from over US$3 billion international embezzlement, misappropriation and money-laundering of 1MDB funds on the ground that it is “sub judice”.

Pandikar is making a Speaker’s ruling which sets a world precedent, for no other Parliament in the world applies the “sub judice” rule arising from lawsuits in foreign countries.

This appears to be an attempt to censor and outlaw all debate and discussion not only about the DOJ action but anything concerning the 1MDB scandal and infamy as a “global kleptocracy” in the Malaysian Parliament.

All over the world, the reverberations from Malaysia being regarded world-wide as a global kleptocracy as a result of the 1MDB global financial scandal continues unabated, but in the Malaysian Parliament there is the great pretence that Malaysia’s infamy being regarded world-wide as a global kleptocracy as a result of the 1MDB global financial scandal does not exist and had become a “sensitive” subject which could not be raised in Parliament.

If this parliamentary pretence is not challenged and countered, Parliament in Malaysia will never become first-world Parliament, and will be relegated to a third-world Parliament status, whatever high-sounding parliamentary reforms like the MQT may be attempted.

Parliament does not become a first-world Parliament just because of innovations where the Prime Minister-cum-Finance Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak used power-point for his budget speech on Friday, if MPs are not allowed to raise grave and burning issues in the country in Parliament.

In this connection, I want to know whether Opposition MPs could use the power-point facilities during their speeches in Parliament, or whether the power-point facilities are specially reserved for the Prime Minister’s use only.

If so, this will be a grave breach of parliamentary privileges, and the Prime Minister should be referred to the Committee of Privileges for a grave breach of privilege especially as the House Committee was never consulted about the power point facilities for Najib for his 2017 budget speech.

[Media Conference Statement (2) after the Opening of Johore State DAP Convention in Kulai on Sunday, October 23, 2016 at 12 noon]