Pakatan Rakyat's unprecedented motion to condemn and reprimand the three judges who heard Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim's Sodomy II trial at the Court of Appeal will not be debated today despite appearing in the order paper.

 

After 63 MPs signed on the motion filed by Gombak MP Azmin Ali, who called it the opposition's "last resort" to debate on the conduct of the judges, the motion appeared at No. 21 on the order paper.

 

However, speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia said that the House will prioritise government affairs, and thus closing out any avenue for the motion to be debated.

 

"But if you want to debate it, please go and negotiate with the Minister in Charge of Parliamentary Affairs, if the government wants to allow for this debate to happen," he said.

Azmin contested the decision, stressing that the opposition did not have any other avenue to talk about the conduct of the judges.

“It is only the Parliament that can take a stand on this matter. You are talking about a provision in the federal constitution here,” he said.

Asked at a press conference later whether the motion not being debated was the government’s way of stifling any discussion on the conduct of the judges, Azmin said, “How else you want me to perceive it?”

“But there will be many more such as these to come,” he said.

Azmin filed in the motion on March 26, and it fulfils the minimum 14-day requirement today.