What Say You?

MPs and groups counter Aussie protest (Update)
By ZULKIFLI ABDUL RAHMAN and ANDREW SAGAYAM

KUALA LUMPUR: Several groups including 17 Members of Parliament handed over memorandums to the Australian High Commissioner protesting the act of more than 50 Australian MPs who had called for the sodomy case against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to be dropped.

Other groups who gathered outside the Australian High Commission here on Wednesday included members of the Barisan Nasional Youth wing, Perkasa and the Malaysian Makkal Sakti Party.

Barisan Backbenchers Club deputy chairman Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin said that the MPs had presented a memorandum to the Australian High Commissioner to Malaysia Penny Williams protesting what it described as the “intervention” by the Australian government into the case.

“We are an independent nation and they have no right to interfere in our judiciary system,” he told reporters outside the Australian High Commission.

He said that the sodomy case against Anwar had not been brought up by the Government but by an individual, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, and the Australian government could not instruct any individual to withdraw his or her claims.

Barisan Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin said Williams, in accepting the wing’s memorandum, had maintained that the Australian government’s policy was that it did not get involved in the affairs of other countries.
Besides MPs, other groups who gathered outside the Australian High Commission included members from the Barisan Nasional Youth wing, Perkasa and Makkal Sakti Party

In its memorandum, Barisan Youth said: “We are shocked at the impudence of the letter (by the Australian MPs) in disregarding the rule of law and trampling upon the sacred principle of sovereignty that governs relations between nation states, by urging the Malaysian Government to drop the charges against Anwar.”

“We would like to remind the MPs concerned that Article 2 of the United Nations Charter spells out the principle of non-intervention in issues which are within the domestic jurisdiction of a state, in accordance with the principle of sovereign equality between all member states.

“We would also like to point out that Australia, as a signatory to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in South-East Asia, has committed itself to the respecting the sovereignty of other signatory states and for the right of each state to lead its national existence free from external interference.

“There can be no dispute that the trial of a Malaysian citizen – in a Malaysian court under Malaysian law – falls completely within the sphere of Malaysia’s domestic jurisdiction,” the memorandum said (click here for the full statement).

The Australian MPs had lodged a formal protest urging Malaysia to drop the sodomy charge in the interest of building “confidence in the impartial rule of law in Malaysia.”

It had been reported that almost 60 Australian MPs from both sides of the political divide had signed a letter in support of Anwar.

The chairman of the Australian Parliament’s foreign affairs sub-committee, Michael Danby, had delivered the letter to the Malaysian High Commission in Canberra on Friday.

Dang Wangi police chief ACP Zulkarnain Abdul Rahman said the situation at the Australian High Commission in Jalan Yap Kwan Seng was under control.

He said those who wanted to hand over memorandums of protest were allowed inside the High Commission.

ACP Zulkarnain confirmed that three memorandums were received by the High Commission authorities.

So what say you? Should have or should not the Australian MPs do what they did? I've always believe that we should be in control of our own internal problems. I still believe in the democracy practices here in Malaysia. That includes the judiciary system that we have. Guilty or Not, let the court decide and not otherwise. Does the Australian MPs (those 50 of them) represents the voices of Australians down under? Are they practicing what they preach? We still read or hear in the news of negativity about the Australian Government of today and yet we do not interfere in the internal problems. They should do so. Enough said!!