Anwar's motion delayed by Speaker citing technicality - malaysiakini

Malaysiakini's report:

Dewan Rakyat Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia postponed to Monday his decision on the emergency motion by Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim to form a royal commission to probe three controversial 'mega projects'.

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Pandikar said today the motion was received by the speaker’s office via fax only after 10am yesterday and therefore did not fulfill the Parliamentary Standing Order 18 (1) which requires the motion to be filed 24 hours before being tabled.

Yesterday, Anwar filed the emergency motion seeking a royal commission to probe the RM11.31 billion high-speed broadband project, the RM4.26 billion purchase of the Bank Internasional Indonesia by Maybank and the RM1.7 billion procurement of 12 units of the Eurocopter Cougar EC 725 helicopters.

In his motion, the opposition leader said Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, in his capacity as finance minister, had ‘hastily’ approved the broadband project on Sept 16.

He added that Najib on Sept 30 also approved the purchase of Bank Internasional Indonesia through Maybank. The former finance minister dismissed this as a waste of the nation's funds as the shares were overpriced.

As for the helicopter deal which the government has since put on hold, Anwar said the deal - inked when Najib was still defence minister - was struck in a dubious manner.

Nazri's 'blind' remark

In another development, Pandikar rejected Karpal Singh’s (DAP-Bukit Gelugor) demand that Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nazri Abul Aziz be punished for allegedly misleading the House.

He said last week Nazri had denied calling Wee Choo Keong (PKR-Wangsa Maju) 'blind' when he had clearly uttered the word.

According to the veteran politician, the minister had lied and this was tantamount to misleading the House.

“Under Parliamentary Standing Order 36 (12), any member of the House making misleading statements must be referred to the Committee of Privileges,” he said.

However, Pandikar replied that he heard what Nazri had said and was certain that the minister did not intend to “hurt the feelings of disabled people but made the statement from a rhetorical point of view.”

“I studied the statement carefully and I do not feel it apt to exert standing order 36 (12) as it is a provision for those who intentionally say offensive things and intentionally disrespect the House and I believe the minister had no intentions of doing so,” he said.

A dissatisfied Karpal tried to argue otherwise but was told to accept the speaker’s decision.

Last week, the veteran politician was slapped with a two-day suspension for accusing Pandikar of not being serious when a war of words erupted in the House over Nazri’s remark - malaysiakini.com