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Wednesday, 18 March 2009

Sikh MP suspended for fingering allegations against Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister

The Sikh Times


MP Gobind Singh Deo

A Sikh MP Gobind Singh Deo has been suspended for a year, as he accused the Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak of being involved in a murder case and in contempt of a deputy speaker during the committee stage debate on the Supplementary Supply Bill 2009 on Thursday.

Gobind Singh Deo is a member of Puchong party, the suspension will take effect immediately for a year following the motion tabled by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz

The opposition party walked out as the motion was being announced

Nazri, when tabling the motion under Standing Order 27(3), said Gobind's accusation was serious and in breach of the rights and privileges of a member of Parliament as well as in contempt of the Dewan Rakyat.

In his winding-up speech, he said what Gobind did was not a crime and therefore there was no need to furnish proof for consideration before he was to be convicted of the offence.

Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur) sought explanations from Pandikar Amin on the public interest which allowed the motion to be tabled without the seven-day notice.

Datuk Kamaruddin Jaafar (PAS-Tumpat) meanwhile wanted the matter to be referred to the Rights and Privileges Committee and Karpal Singh (DAP-Bukit Gelugor) questioned why Gobind Singh a lawyer was not given time to defend himself.

Others who also stood up were M. Kulasegaran (DAP-Ipoh Barat), Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham (DAP-Beruas), Nga Kor Ming (DAP-Taiping) and R. Sivarasa (PKR-Subang).

In answer to complaints that Gobind had not been given floor time to defend himself, Nazri said the House had been fair to him. "His father, Karpal Singh (DAP-Bukit Gelugor) has been allowed to speak. What more can anyone ask?" he said alluding to the fact that Karpal is one of the country's top lawyers.

Earlier, debating the motion, Opposition leader, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said punishing Gobind would not make the claim go away.

"It is a serious charge and should be investigated thoroughly. I am sure he (Gobind) would not have made the charge if he did not have the facts." Malaysian media has reported

Anwar said the authorities should investigate the claim made by Gobind, that an investigating officer in the Altantuya Shaaribuu murder trial had claimed that Najib was a material witness to the case but had not been called to the stand.

"What we have here (before the Dewan Rakyat) is brute power. To say right or wrong and penalise through a vote does not confirm to the principles of natural justice. Punishing him and sending him out of this House does not make the charge go away. We are not making an attempt to investigate this," he said.

Razali said Gobind as a lawyer is well versed with the law and had used the immunity of the House to make a serius allegation at Najib.

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