The probe into the case of veteran MP Karpal Singh being mobbed by Umno Youth members in Parliament on Feb 26 has not been completed although the government assured that the matter would be resolved by the end of this Parliament session.

ronald kiandee Deputy speaker Ronald Kiandee told Malaysiakini that the committee set up by the House the day the incident took place has yet to finish its investigation.

"The Dewan (Rakyat) did not set a time frame for the committee... therefore we are still investigating the matter," he said.

The committee was set up last month after an angry mob stopped Karpal from entering the Parliament building on Feb 26, insisting that he should apologise for accusing Umno Youth of being responsible for a death threat and two live bullets he had received.

Those mob had also demanded that Karpal retract and apologise for calling Umno ' celaka ' (damn).

After the incident Karpal, who is also Bukit Gelugor MP, had called on the speaker to issue warrants of arrest under the Houses of Parliament (Privileges and Powers) Act 1952 to those involved.

However, the speaker rejected this and instead set up a special bipartisan committee to investigate the incident under Section 80(A) of the Standing Orders after a request by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nazri Abdul Aziz.

Nazri told the House added that committee will have to conclude their investigation and submit their decision by the end of the Parliament seating, which is by March 25.

Opposition MPs Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timor), R Sivarasa (PKR-Subang) and Kamaruddin Jaafar (PAS-Tumpat), who were also chosen to sit on the committee, however quit in protest to the speaker's hesitance in issuing arrest warrants against the perpetrators.

'I am disappointed'

Although not in support of the committee’s establishment, Karpal nevertheless expressed that he was disappointed that the committee had not summed up their investigations.

"From the looks of it, I think the result will only be announced in the next session which is in June," he said.

violent attack towards dap karpal singh and lim lip eng at parliament 260209 sequence "Yes, I am disappointed, I thought they would have resolved everything by the end of this seating. I didn't agree with them in setting up a committee on the reason it becomes a dangerous precedence where we give privilege of a hearing to those who flout the law, when parliament could have acted itself," he added.

Moreover, Karpal explained that there was nothing in the rules that the findings of the committee has to tabled in this session.

"What is alarming is that there is talk that they might punish those who did not appear as witness," he said.

The DAP chairperson was referring to the boycott by Pakatan MPs who declined to cooperate with the investigations when they were summoned as witnesses.

Karpal was served notice to attend the meeting together with fellow opposition parliamentarians who had come to his assistance - Lim Lip Eng (Segambut-DAP), Fong Po Kuan (Batu Gajah-DAP), Fong Kui Lun (Bukit Bintang-DAP) and N Gobalakrisnan (Padang Serai-PKR).

"The letter was sent to us but we defied.... I suppose they would do it in the right time, probably when the decision is announced and consequentially the case against the others who didn't appear.

"But we are prepared for that, because to appear would have lent legitimacy to something we don't want to set as a precedent," he said.

"Otherwise people would just come here to create a problem and ask for a hearing which then is headed by the speaker... it is ridiculous," he added.

Karpal stressed that to appear before the Committee of Privileges was a privilege unique to the members of Parliament.