The decision by the Dewan Rakyat to refer Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim to the Rights and Privileges Committee for allegedly misleading Parliament shows that BN is fair, the prime minister said.

   

azlan Najib said the BN could have used its majority power in the Dewan Rakyat to punish and suspend Anwar but the coalition chose to take the sensible approach of giving Anwar the opportunity to defend himself.

   

"He can explain himself to the committee," he told reporters after attending the 1Malaysia breakfast at Kampung Gumut Tambahan, Kalumpang in Hulu Selangor today.

   

The Dewan Rakyat passed a motion on Thursday to refer Anwar to the committee for issuing a statement linking the 1Malaysia concept to Apco Worldwide, an international communications firm hired by the government.

Anwar has claimed that Apco was the brain behind former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak’s One Israel slogan. This has been repeatedly denied by Apco.

   

Najib said he believed that the committee would look deeper into the claims by Anwar.

   

"It is a serious allegation and he has not been able to prove his claim. The Dewan Rakyat therefore decided to refer him to the committee," he said, adding that the BN would leave it to the committee to deal with the issue.

- Bernama