MP for Batu Gajah, Fong Po Kuan, co-ordinating secretary convening the inaugural meeting of the “Free MP Teresa Kok” parliamentary caucus in Parliament tomorrow (Wednesday 17.9.08) at 3 p.m. has informed me that Datuk Zaid Ibrahim will attend.
I phoned up Zaid from Kota Kinabalu where I am attending a Sabah DAP forum “Malaysia – Towards a New Era” and the first Minister in the nation’s history to have resigned from the Cabinet on a point of principle confirmed his concern for the incarceration of MP Teresa Kok under the Internal Security Act (ISA) and that he would attend the meeting of the proposed “Free MP Teresa Kok” parliamentary caucus.
I hope to see Barisan Nasional Ministers and MPs, as well as the Speaker and Deputy Speakers, attending the meeting to demonstrate the maturity of the Malaysian Parliament where Parliamentarians can distinguish between parliamentary and party considerations and unite on a single footing to advance the cause of a first-world Malaysian Parliament.
At the very successful DAP Sabah forum, which was attended by some 1,000 very enthusiastic Sabahans yearning for “916 sky-change”, I called on the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to give a categorical public assurance that he would gracefully, peacefully and democratically accept and effect a transition of federal power if Pakatan Rakyat has the support of the majority of the 222 MPs in Parliament – to tell the nation and the world that Malaysian democracy has reached a new maturity at par with first-world Parliaments where changes of government are accepted in a matter-of-fact manner based on who has got the parliamentary majority and not be the cause of panicky reactions warning or inciting chaos and unrest.