Both the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid owe Parliament and the nation a full and satisfactory explanation as to why the monstrous and pernicious National Security Council (NSC) Bill was passed like “a thief in the night” in a late-night session on the last sitting of the 25-day Parliamentary meeting without any prior notice to the major stakeholders in the land?
Najib’s kitchen Cabinet of trusted Ministers and top government officers and advisers must be congratulated for pulling off one of the most remarkable feats in Malaysian government history, keeping the monstrous and pernicious NSC Bill completely under wraps without any one knowing about it, and even the snooping journalists with the most trained noses to sniff out the goings-on in the corridors of powers, have been completely bamboozled this time.
But this adds to the mystery – why was the NSC Bill kept under such tight lock-and-key that when it was first tabled in Parliament for first reading on Tuesday, 1st December 2015, it did not attract widespread attention and alert that it was such a monstrous and pernicious bill which not only usurped the powers of Yang di Pertuan Agong, the Cabinet and the powers of autonomy of the Sarawak and Sabah state, but would set the country off on the long dark road to a dictatorship?
Answers the following three questions are not only in order but urgent in clarifying the public mind as to what is cooking in the corridors of powers which could father such a monstrous and pernicious NSC Bill:
1. Why was the NSC Bill incubated and born in such deep secrecy that there was no clue beforehand among MPs and the major stakeholders in the country that it was in the works and would be presented for enactment by Parliament in the budget session? When was the idea of the NSC Bill conceived – during the time of former Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail or is this the first “masterpiece” of the new Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohamaed Apandi Ali? Was such secrecy in drafting the NSC Bill conducive or inimical to the promotion of a democratic and constitutional good governance and is there a secret ulterior agenda to the NSC Bill?
2. When was the NSC Bill presented to the Cabinet and when did the Ministers give their approval for the presentation of the Bill to Parliament? Was there a detailed discussion by the Cabinet Ministers into the far-reaching implications of the Bill and its threat to a democratic and constitutional government?
3. Can the 107 Ministers and MPs who voted for the NSC Bill in the Dewan Rakyat last Thursday give reasons for supporting the monstrous and pernicious NSC Bill, especially as it usurped the powers of the Yang di Pertuan Agong, the Cabinet, and states of Sarawak and Sabah in their demand for greater autonomy for the two states. Malaysians want to know in particular why the 107 Ministers and Members of Parliament support the NSC Bill, which renders completely superfluous Article 150 as it would vest the Prime Minister with emergency powers without having to invoke Article 150 for a Proclamation of Emergency by the Yang di Pertuan Agong.
Finally, was the NSC Bill presented beforehand to the Conference of Rulers, and if so, when.