We refer to the Malaysiakini report Uproar as motion on Palestine is rejected .

Citizens International strongly condemns the deputy speaker of the Dewan Rakyat Ronald Kiandee for rejecting the emergency motion to urge the government to take action against the closure of the Gaza border in Palestine by Israel.

We express our full appreciation of Dr Mohd Puad Zarkashi (BN -Batu Pahat) for raising the motion and to the Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim as well as all the members of the Dewan for supporting it.

The international public will construe the rejection of the motion as an expression of pro-Zionist sympathies and Palestinian prejudice. It has brought great shame to our Parliament, government and nation.

The rejection goes against the sentiments and wishes of the Malaysian people who have been urging the international community to take urgent steps to lift Israel's siege of Gaza and end the humanitarian disaster there.

The reason given by Kiandee for rejecting the motion that it is not urgent is absurd. He obviously has not been reading newspapers or watching TV on the plight, suffering and misery of the Palestinians in Gaza. Or is his decision based on a prejudiced view of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict?

The following statistics highlight the desperate humanitarian situation in Gaza and the need for urgent action by governments, the United Nations, the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) and all those who believe in defending and upholding human rights and the rule of law.

  • Around 80 percent of Gaza populations live under poverty line.

  • 1,100,000 people depend on humanitarian aid provided by UNRWA, Arab, Islamic and foreign organisations.

  • Unemployment ratio has reached 65 percent.

  • 60 percent of Gaza's children suffer from malnutrition.

  • About 97 percent of factories and workshops have stopped working, specifically 3900 factories. The industrial zone of Gaza is completely closed.

  • Individual income: US$650 per year or US$2 a day.

  • Freedom of movement from Gaza to the West bank, Jerusalem and outside world is being blocked.

  • Around 260 people have died due to lack of medicines or because of being prevented from traveling outside for treatment.

  • Nearly 40 percent of siege victims are children.

  • About 150 types of essential medicines are not available in Gaza.

  • The only medical factory in Gaza has halted production due to shortage of raw materials.

  • Projects for constructing and developing hospitals, clinics and educational bodies have been suspended.

    • Given this grim situation it is preposterous that Kiandee rejected the motion on the grounds of ‘lack of urgency'. Thousands of people are braving their lives to break the siege.

    Civil society organisations have been sending shiploads of medicine and food to Gaza to break the siege, despite the threats from the Israeli Armed Forces.

    Is it not a shame that our parliamentarians, sitting in the air-conditioned comfort of their ostentatious chamber, cannot even adopt a paper resolution in support of the efforts to lift the siege?

    We call on all Malaysians to:

    • Write to Ronald Kiandee protesting against the rejection of the motion on Gaza.

  • Write to the prime minister and the leader of the opposition to jointly move a motion in the Dewan Rakyat on lifting of the siege on Gaza.

  • Hold demonstrations in front of Parliament urging our parliamentarians to adopt a motion on lifting the siege on Gaza.

  • Write to President Hoseini Mubarak through the Egyptian Embassy here urging the Egyptian government to open the Rafah Crossing to allow for free flow of people, goods and services.

  • Hold demonstrations in front of the United States and Egyptian embassies calling for an end to the siege of Gaza.

    • The writer is chairperson, Citizens International .