Opposition leader Abdul Hadi Awang took part in a lively debate in Dewan Rakyat today while debating the motion of thanks o­n the royal address .

In a wide-ranging speech that took two hours to deliver, Abdul Hadi touched o­n issues pertaining to national security, US plans to attack Iraq, abuse of the Internal Security Act (ISA), Anwar Ibrahim's right to medical treatment overseas, petroleum royalty and the public religious school (SAR).

Even then, the Marang MP o­nly managed to finish 11 of the 20 pages of his prepared text. His request to continue when the session reconvenes at 2pm tomorrow was rejected by deputy speaker Lim Si Cheng.

Abdul Hadi said he could not continue with his speech at 11am tomorrow because he had to attend the Rulers Conference.

Issues involving NAM

Abdul Hadi, who is also acting PAS president, opened his speech by touching o­n the heavy presence of police personnel in Kuala Lumpur during the recent Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit.

"There was no public demonstration. I believe that the real purpose of placing so many police (on duty) was to deter people from holding demonstrations as in other countries," he said.

He said the meeting could not be considered successful until and unless the United States refers to NAM in its policy o­n the Palestine.

"We are still waiting for the world reaction to the NAM resolution," he said.

Furthermore, he said the summit would not be considered worthy unless its new chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad manages to convince United Nations non-permanent security council members such as Syria and Pakistan (also NAM members) to reject any new resolution to attack Iraq.

Abdul Hadi claimed the peace rally (against the US-led threat of war against Iraq) that was held at the Bukit Jalil stadium in Kuala Lumpur recently was purely an Umno event and done in festive atmosphere in order to attract people.

He took the opportunity to respond to a challenge issued earlier by Umno Youth chief Hishammuddin Hussein to PAS to hold a bigger peace gathering and collect more than 2.5 million signatures.

"We don't need free transportation (to Bukit Jalil), but the police permit will do," said Abdul Hadi.

Alleged abuse of power

Abdul Hadi questioned the government's tendency to use the ISA when many other laws could be used instead to prosecute offenders.

"The government is not using the ISA to protect national security, but for the interests of the ruling coalition," Abdul Hadi alleged.

He said abuse of the ISA has been condemned by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia, (Suhakam) but that all its recommendations have fallen o­n deaf ears to date.

On jailed former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, Abdul Hadi urged the government to allow him to get medical treatment overseas as requested.

"He must be treated like any other prisoner," said Abdul Hadi.

He said Anwar could be released from prison next month after completing two-thirds of his sentence for corruption and allowed bail until his appeal against the sodomy conviction is disposed of by the Court of Appeal.

On political threats

Abdul Hadi described the recent statement by an Umno vice-president that the five percent petroleum royalty to Terengganu would be revoked should Umno fail to capture the state from PAS as a "political threat."

He therefore urged the police to act against the leader "without having to wait for a police report as the matter has been reported by the media".

Abdul Hadi expressed disappointment with Selangor Mentri Besar Mohd Khir Toyo over the recent demolition of a surau in Bangi in order to curb growing political dissent.

He noted that Islam accords utmost respect to places of worship of all religions, and that Muslims are not allowed to demolish these even in times of war.

"I don't think that such an act would intimidate people - rather, it would attract more sympathy from people (to PAS' struggle)," he said.

Commotion in the House

Touching o­n SAR, the opposition leader said that the prime minister's argument that it is used to breed PAS members is far from true.

He said many PAS members have attended top-notch government boarding schools and that the party has never forced its members to send their children to SAR.

At o­ne point, a commotion broke out when Deputy Defence Minister Mohd Shafie Apdal claimed that Mahfuz Omar (PAS-Pokok Sena) had belittled the King by claiming that he had been used by the BN to include a condemnation of SAR in the royal address.

"The government has been acting in a rude manner where SAR is concerned," Abdul Hadi said.

Abdul Hadi had planned to touch o­n economic issues, dengue and media freedom among other aspects in the rest of his speech, copies of which were distributed to reporters.

On press freedom, he described Umno Youth as "sick" in the way it had dealt with malaysiakini ,

which resulted in the police raid against the o­nline newspaper's office recently.

"The police should be more professional and not just simply listen to the Umno Youth," he added.