A member of parliament today chided Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, who had described a Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) official as "weak”.

NONE “Is this the attitude of our PM’s Department? When a complaint is made, you threaten them,” Gobind Singh Deo (DAP-Puchong) said during the policy stage debate of the Mediation Bill, during the second reading in the House.

Quoting Malaysiakini reports on Shukri's statement and Nazri's rebuke, the parliamentarian argued that such behaviour from a minister in the PM’s Department was unbecoming of the institution and by adjunct the Malaysian justice system.

“Why do you think that we need a Mediation Bill to settle cases. It is because people have no confidence in our system.

“I stand for the police and the MACC officers, asking you about this now, even though, before this, we (the opposition) have been accused of deriding them,” he said, asking the minister to respond.

Gobind argued that the perception of the public towards the institutions of justice and law enforcement was currently at the lowest ebb.

He was quoting Malaysiakini exposes on allegations of collusion between a former IGP and a serving AG to victimise police officers and the apparent involvement of an underworld figure in the promotions of police officers.

NONE Nazri was reported to have chastised MACC deputy chief Shukri Abdull ( left ) for allegedly complaining that the attorney-general’s chambers had refused to charge graft suspects investigated by the commission.

Gobind’s questioning raised the ire of BN backbencher Abdul Rahman Dahlan (BN-Kota Belud) who stood up applying Standing Order 36(12).

He claimed that the Malaysiakini report on Shukri was not accurate, saying that he was also at the event where the MACC deputy chief reportedly made the claim that the AG Chambers returned many of their cases headlining them as ‘no case’.

MP does not understand the issue

“Datuk Shukri did not say that, I was there,” argued Abdul Rahman, saying that he had made it known to a Malaysiakini reporter about what he claimed was the portal’s inaccurate reporting.

To this, Gobind responded by saying that the issue was not on what Shukri did or did not say per se, but on Nazri’s response to it.

NONE Abdul Rahman ( right ) tried to intervene again but this time the Puchong MP did not give way, saying that the Kota Belud parliamentarian does not know what he was talking about.

Later, during Nancy Shukri’s (BN-Batang Sadong) turn at the debate, Abdul Rahman intervened to have his say, this time throwing brickbats at the DAP in general.

“For 16 years you accused him of a lot of things, but once he is out, he is okay is it? No balls like that brother. You must be consistent,” he hit out.

Abdul Rahman’s attack on the Malaysiakini report opened the floodgates to Independent MPs who took the floor afterwards.

S Gobalakrishnan (Independent-Padang Serai) alluded that Malaysiakini was like the “running dog” of Pakatan, whose journalists are rewarded for spinning for the opposition coalition.

Wee Choo Keong (Independent-Wangsa Maju) accused Malaysiakini of often spinning unconfirmed information that it got from dodgy sources.

He added the quality of such information was such that the portal may as well quote “tomato sauce or chili sauce”.

Completing the verbal attacks, Ibrahim Ali (Independent-Pasir Mas) claimed that the alleged spinning and inaccurate reporting of the portal was not only misleading but also “represented a threat to national security” and must be handled (by the authorities).