KUALA LUMPUR, July 29 — Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said today that he has been given assurance by Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun that the Parliament sitting on Monday will go on as scheduled.
Amid a lack of clarity after the sitting today was postponed as two more members of the Lower House tested positive for Covid-19, the Opposition Leader said all of his side’s MPs will return on Monday.
“The Speaker gave his assurance a session will be held on Monday, and even though we know the attitude of the Speaker who sometimes is not fully convincing, but he gave me his assurance.
“So we have told all (Opposition) MPs to be present on Monday at 10am, and if anything happens, if they want to cancel it, we will be present on Monday,” he said in a press conference in Parliament.
In his second press conference in Parliament today, Anwar also reiterated that Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, de facto law minister Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan, and Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun must all resign from their posts.
He said the repeated delays and postponements of today’s sitting was a farce and mere delay tactic by the government after the Yang Di Pertuan Agong’s earlier statement that the Emergency Ordinances (EO) revocation has not yet received his royal assent.
“We suspect this as part of their games because they have no answer to [the royal statement]. They have committed treason against the King, they have sidelined the constitution, and they have insulted the Parliament.
“We see the national constitutional crisis has reached its peak, where rarely since Merdeka do we see the Yang di-Pertuan Agong forced to express his view while the government have lost their legitimacy and gone against the constitution,” he said.
Anwar revealed that none of the federal ministers were spotted in the Dewan Rakyat for the afternoon session which was repeatedly delayed, then accusing them of absconding from their responsibilities.
“What has happened is they have ran away from their responsibility, they are supposed to resign,” he said.
This after Deputy Speaker Datuk Mohd Rashid Hasnon had twice during today’s afternoon session postponed the sitting, citing the discovery of a total of four Covid-19 positive cases among Parliament staff as the reason.
He then announced a lockdown on the Parliament complex with all within the building not permitted to leave until a negative test result is obtained.
As the tests were being conducted, supposed footage of federal ministers arriving at Muhyiddin’s Damansara Heights residence surfaced despite them also being subject to the lockdown.
Meanwhile commenting on the measures taken, Parti Amanah Negara president Mohamad Sabu said the entire issue about the discovery of positive cases and required testing seemed planned.
“The swab tests this afternoon seemed like it was an orchestrated move because it was mentioned that Parliament staff and not MPs who were found positive.
“If it wasn’t an MP, there was no reason to stop the sitting. The tests were orchestrated to delay the due processes in Parliament,” he asserted.
