Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said it is the attorney-general who can decide if Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim will be able to attend Parliament next month, pending the pardon application.

"I would like to beg to differ with my deputy," Zahid told reporters today.

Yesterday, Deputy Home Minister Wan Junaidi Tunku Jaafar said Anwar must apply to the Dewan Rakyat speaker and Prisons Department director-general.

The Home Ministry, Wan Junaidi added, would be consulted in the event that a decision could not be reached by the department.

Zahid said the issue should be referred to the attorney-general and ministers and politicians should refrain from expressing their individual opinions on the matter.

"We have to leave it to the judiciary to make a judgment, based on proper laws, including the constitution," he added.

However, the home minister declined to comment at length on an anarchist group threatening to assassinate Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar.

"The IGP has already replied," Zahid said, adding that the police chief’s stand on certain matters should be respected.

"Any statement issued by him (Khalid) is not his personal statement but a statement made by an institution. It should be respected," he added.

The threat, via a video posted on Facebook, came hot on the heels of criticisms against Khalid over the recent Sedition Act crackdown.