'Not disloyal for debating Agong's royal address'
PARLIAMENT Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim today denied allegations that he and Pakatan MPs, who want to debate the points contained in the Agong’s royal address to the parliament, are disloyal or are trying to disparage his royal person.
PARLIAMENT Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim today denied allegations that he and Pakatan MPs, who want to debate the points contained in the Agong’s royal address to the parliament, are disloyal or are trying to disparage his royal person.
"Those with evil intent used this to insinuate that this is evidence that we are disloyal," he said while debating the royal address in the Dewan Rakyat today.
He argued that if that is so, then all parliamentarians who have debated the royal address - as is traditional in parliamentary democracies with constitutional monarchies - since Malaysia's founding in 1957 are traitors then.
"As rakyat, we junjung kasih (respectfully receive) the address. We give serious consideration, and we have the right to give facts and evidence for consideration on the opinion of some of the rakyat.
“This is not a system of absolute monarchy, where the rakyat cannot question... this is giving opinion. We are debating, not being disloyal or disparaging; it is a royal address in the name of the sitting government."
The Permatang Pauh MP was responding to allegations by those who had accused his statement yesterday to debate the royal address on several points, in particular, the part where the address urged all parties to accept the GE13 results, which Pakatan continues to claim is tainted by improprieties.
Anwar hoped that the parties responsible will stop trying to confuse the matter.
"Don't continue to play up this matter or else the tradition of parliamentary debate will be meaningless," he stressed.
The PKR chief said that he is confused where the people - who are questioning the tradition of debating the royal address and who believe that the address should not be questioned - are from.
"If that is the case, then we might as well not call it ‘debating the royal address’ and rename it as ‘an event to receive the royal address’."
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