The Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar should be jailed by Parliament for contempt of Parliament if obstructs the PKR Secretary-General and MP for Pandan Rafizi Ramli from attending the last two sittings of the current parliamentary meeting, i.e. today and tomorrow.
This is because Khalid would have violated the unanimous resolution passed by Parliament at the beginning of the current parliamentary meeting instructing the Inspector-General of Police to ensure that there is no obstruction for MPs to make their way to and from Parliament.
Now we have the IGP himself obstructing an MP from attending the last two sittings of Parliament with the “ambush” and arrest of Rafizi outside the gates of Parliament yesterday.
If Rafizi is not allowed the liberty to attend today and tomorrow’s Parliamentary sitting, a motion should be passed unanimously by Parliament today citing the Inspector-General of Police for contempt and putting him in jail until he purges the parliamentary contempt.
This is not a partisan issue, affecting the MP from PKR or Pakatan Harapan but an issue affecting parliamentary privileges of all MPs, regardless of political party.
The police arrest of Rafizi is a clear-cut case of parliamentary contempt especially the way Rafizi was ambushed and arrested outside the gates of Parliament – which is doubly unacceptable and inexcusable when there is an unanimous motion passed by Parliament instructing the IGP to ensure no obstruction for MPs to make their way to and from Parliament.
Is IGP Khalid trying to show that he is himself above Parliament, and not subject to the instructions of Parliament –turning the whole system of parliamentary democracy and principles of government responsibility and accountability upside down!
All Members of Parliament, regardless of party affiliation as well as the Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia, must stand as one on this issue of parliamentary privileges and now allow the IGP to thumb the nose of Parliament.
The question whether the police can and should arrest Rafizi for alleged violation of the Official Secrets Act is a separate and secondary question.
Why can’t Rafizi be arrested after the adjournment of Parliament tomorrow?
Will the whole system of law and order come crumbling down?
Malaysia cannot allow the IGP to thumb the nose of Parliament as well as the nose of the international society, with the latest revelation of the Panama Papers, where 11.5 million documents – or 2.6 terabytes of data – provide a trove of leaked confidential documents from a law firm in Panama, Mossack Fonseca, described as the fourth largest offshore law firm in the world, exposing how some of the world’s most powerful people used offshore bank accounts to conceal their wealth or avoid taxes, raising questions about corruption in the global financial system.
I am still suspended from Parliament for six months but I add my voice to those of all MPs who cherish parliamentary privileges and dignity in Malaysia and demand that IGP Khalid must not obstruct Rafizi from attending the last two sittings of Parliament today and tomorrow, or Khalid should be jailed by an unanimous parliamentary motion until he purged his contempt of Parliament.