There is no provision or precedent for impeachment in the Dewan Rakyat, PKR vice-president N Surendran said today.

He was responding to Senator S Nallakaruppan’s statement about “exploring the possibility of initiating an impeachment process” against Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim for allegedly lying to Parliament.

NONE Surendran ( right ), who is also a practising lawyer, revealed that in England the impeachment process was last used over 200 years ago in Lord Melville’s case, and that is now obsolete.

“The rationale of the impeachment remedy was to hold ministers and the executive accountable in the administration of the country.

“To suggest that it be used against the opposition leader shows a gross misunderstanding of the impeachment process.

“With the evolution of the motion of no confidence, select committees and close parliamentary scrutiny and questioning, the old impeachment mechanism has become archaic,” Surendran said in a statement.

Impeachment is a procedure to charge a public official with improper conduct in office before a proper tribunal.

s nallakaruppan pc 240312 Nallakaruppan, who is Malaysian United Indian Party president, said yesterday he was looking into the possibility of initiating an impeachment process against Anwar for allegedly lying to Parliament.

A former tennis partner of Anwar, Nallakaruppan also announced the appointment of Muhammad Shafee Abdullah to represent him in the opposition leader’s RM100 million defamation suit.

Anwar had filed the suit on Monday against Nallakaruppan and Utusan Malaysia over the alleged derogatory remarks he mad, which were carried on the front page of the Umno-owned Malay daily on March 20.

Surendran said the statements from Nallakaruppan and Shafee arose from ignorance and that they were parroting the same old charges of sexual misconduct fabricated against Anwar by successive BN governments, with the collaboration of the police and the attorney-general.

'PM engaged in personal attacks'

“The rakyat have never believed these shameful lies, and have thrown in their support, trust and sympathy behind Anwar and the opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition which he leads.

NONE “It is preposterous and bizarre for Shafee ( left ) and Nalla to threaten Anwar with the ancient and superseded impeachment process.

 

“Shafee’s and Nalla’s statements also show breathtaking ignorance of  impeachment and parliamentary procedures in Malaysia and the Commonwealth, where there is no provision or precedent for impeachment in the Dewan Rakyat,” Surendran said.

The PKR vice-president added that Shafee, by using the example of former US president Bill Clinton’s impeachment bid, revealed his utter incomprehension of the impeachment mechanism in the United States, where it is used to remove members of the federal government, such as the president.

He described this development as failure on the part of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and the BN to engage in rational debate and discourse with the opposition coalition.

“Instead, Najib and Umno continue to rely upon low and baseless personal attacks by the likes of Nalla and his cohorts, which are prominently reported in the Umno-owned electronic and print media,” Surendran added.