KUALA LUMPUR: Machang member of parliament (MP) Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal has been suspended for six months from the Dewan Rakyat starting today following a poison pen letter alleging the mastermind behind the Malaysia Airport Holdings Bhd (MAHB) privatisation.
This comes after Minister in Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said raised a motion against the Perikatan Nasional (PN) MP to suspend him over the matter.
Among other reasons, Azalina in the motion cited that the reference to the letter made by Wan Fayhsal has had a detrimental effect not only on the individual (alleged mastermind) but also towards government officers who may be unfairly harmed by the baseless allegations.
The motion was then debated by one MP from each bloc before it was approved via a bloc vote with 100 in support, 63 opposed, three abstained and 46 absent.
Prior to the bloc voting, Azalina in her explanatory session said the action made by Wan Fayhsal could lead to floodgates for other parliamentarians to use the same tactics of poison pen letters without proper investigations.
"We will be opening doors to negative culture among the government and opposition MPs if there is no decision made in this House (over the matter).
"I understand and sympathise with Machang (Wan Fayhsal), however, we must speak with facts. There will be no issue if you apologise, say that you might be wrong and you do not believe (the letter) or question its validity.
"(But) you just sat and the issue was circulated as if Parliament endorsed your claim. So, who (will) defend the government officer out there?
"Just because we are MPs, we should not act as if we are above the law, that is not our role. The people voted for us (because) they respect us so we must behave properly," she said.
Azalina added that it was also the responsibility of a lawmaker to ensure a proper investigation is conducted upon receiving a poison pen letter.
She said in this situation, Wan Fayhsal should have lodged a report to the authorities to allow them to investigate the matter.
"If it is true that there is a case of bullying in the Employee Provident Fund (EPF) (as alleged in the letter), go to the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam), file a police report and ask the minister responsible for the retirement fund.
"I believe that the government will not have issues if we refer the allegations to an official document, but not a poison pen letter as we will open floodgates for everyone in this House to use the same tactics, especially with the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) where we do not know what is right or wrong."
Wan Fayhsal is reported to have made a reference to the poison pen letter when debating the annual report of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) for 2021 and 2022 in Dewan Rakyat earlier this month.
He had also named an EPF employee with a high-ranking position for allegedly being involved in MAHB's privatisation and that the individual had used tactics to intimidate other employees.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said that the share deal with GIP Aureus Pte Ltd through the MAHB consortium had allowed Khazanah Nasional Bhd and EPF's ownership to increase from 41 per cent to 70 per cent.
He also assured that despite Blackrock, an Israeli-linked company acquiring GIP, the management of GIP will retain full control and responsibility over the strategic direction of the company and the companies it invested in.