KUALA LUMPUR: Enough is enough, said suspended Gelang Patah MP Lim Kit Siang in urging all parties concerned to stop making political capital out of Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar’s visit to the Philippines. “Don’t make a mountain out of a molehill over her unplanned meeting with Jacel Kiram.”
“The country has weightier problems on hand.”
If Nurul had 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 uploaded onto Facebook for the whole world to know, added Lim, who is DAP Parliamentary Leader. “This bolstered Nurul’s statement of innocence, besides her expression of regret over her photograph with 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 Datu 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 the latter was one of the 15 guests invited by her hosts i.e. 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. “Her visit to the Philippines was in connection with the call by the United Nations Working Group of Arbitrary Detention for the immediate release of jailed de facto Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim.”
Lim was commenting on Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Azalina Othman Said “making another howler” when she said the government might refer Nurul Izzah to the Parliamentary Rights and Privileges Committee. “Would she suggest that both Nurul and the Prime Minister be referred to the Parliamentary Rights and Privileges Committee? Najib was at the centre of a similar controversy when a photograph appeared on social media last month of him shaking hands with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the United Nations.”
Lim noted that Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein had 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 at the United Nations last month?”
The Inspector-General of Police 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, lamented Lim. “Did Khalid ever direct the police to investigate the Prime Minister under Sosma and the 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 be placed in the proper perspective 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, summed up Lim.