Malaysia Parliament suspends opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and three others

Malaysia Parliament suspends opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and three others

2010-12-17 11:54:34 GMT+7 (ICT)

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA (BNO NEWS) -- The Malaysian Parliament on Thursday suspended opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim along with three other opposition Members of the Parliament (MPs), officials said.

Along with Anwar, Karpal Singh, R. Sivarasa and Mohd Azmin Ali, who are all friendly MPs to Anwar's People's Justice Party, were suspended for six months.

Strong words were exchanged after the opposition MPs claimed that the motion presented was unfair because Anwar and the three others facing the suspension were not given the opportunity to defend themselves, saying that they would seek a judicial review challenging the decision.

In March, Anwar called for "1Malaysia," a government campaign to promote unity among Malaysia's ethnic groups, which some have linked to "One Israel," a political alliance led by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak that collapsed in 2001.

However, despite Malaysian officials denying that the idea was taken from Israel, which has no diplomatic relations with Malaysia, the campaign was not well-seen as Israel is very much unpopular in the majority-Muslim Malaysia.

Anwar, who is currently facing a heavy prison sentence if convicted on the sodomy charge relating to a controversial sodomy trial in 1998 that sentenced him to six years, has emerged as a serious challenger to the National Front coalition, which has governed Malaysia since its independence from Britain in 1957.

Nonetheless, the suspension will still allow Anwar to appear in public or at party functions, but may curb the opposition's clout in parliamentary debates.

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