YOURSAY | ‘What is truly shocking is that this show of force is being directed against MPs…’

Riot police thwart opposition MPs' bid to enter Parliament

Vijay47: Who would have ever imagined that Malaysia would fall to the level we are witnessing, a situation the world thought would arise only in countries ruled by despots?

When the ruling authority disregards the Federal Constitution, when the guiding light of parliamentary democracy is shunted aside, when the prime minister rules according to whim and fancy, we know that the Day of the Dictator has arrived.

What is truly shocking is that this show of force is being directed against MPs wishing only to gain entry into the House! On what grounds are they being not permitted to proceed? The ridiculous Covid-19 reason?

If indeed that Covid-19 has reached proportions where any gathering would prove fatal, the nation should have long come under curfew-like total shutdown. But subject to certain precautions, public life seems to continue as normally as before. Except where Parliament is concerned.

Where were such health considerations when crony politicians were allowed to meet to plan and plot desperately?

Perhaps we can understand why these men of cunning would want to ensure that their position, however illegal, is not brought to an abrupt end. Any change in the government may see many being charged in court and then dragged to prison. When the animal’s survival is threatened, law and procedure are hardly its concern.

Another deplorable dark facet to the goings-on is the conduct of the House speaker and the attorney-general, brothers in more ways than one. When we expected them to carry out their responsibilities with honour, they chose to hunt with the hounds.

The march to Parliament has just been disbanded. We cannot shake off that nagging belief that karma has come home to roost, that the hand that fed Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has been bitten. Whichever way the dice fall, the losers are the people.

Doc: Indeed, today is a sad day for Malaysia. It’s the day democracy died. Even the constitutional monarchy has no power to remove Muhyiddin.

Elected officials are barred from attending Parliament, which has been suspended by a non-elected prime minister, and a backdoor government has been administering the country with no majority support.

In effect, today, Malaysia is a failed state with a ‘dictator’ in power.

Constitutional Supremacy: The opposition unity shown today should be maintained and enhanced into a big tent concept.

All that is needed further is another five MPs to make the number 112. As two MPs have passed away, it means there is only a three MP-majority with Perikatan Nasional.

Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, Azalina Othman Said, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, and Najib Abdul Razak have said they do not support Muhyiddin. This means PM has no support of majority.

The opposition should get all 107 MPs to sign statutory declarations of no support for Muhyiddin and obtain a few from Umno and submit them to the Agong.

NoobMaster69: Pakatan Harapan is doing this all for show. Last Thursday, they knew the government would lock down the Parliament using Covid-19 as the reason.

Then opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim made the House speaker promised to open the Parliament on Monday and the speaker even gave his assurance.

We know what happened the next day. He closed down the Parliament, therefore, Harapan made him look like a liar to the public and tarnish his reputation even more.

Harapan knows all along that the road to Parliament would be closed. So why did they bother to show up? Because they know that the press will be there. These outlets will report the news not only locally, but also internationally.

The protesting MPs made their point by making the PM, Health director-general and Home Ministry and House speaker look really bad.

Notice how they emphasised on giving out numbers that only 0.9 percent of people infected by Covid-19, but Parliament is closed, and before the Parliament started, there were 1.1 percent infected and the Parliament still proceeded.

This is all for show to make the current government, which already has a bad reputation, look even worse by locking up Parliament while the Agong has decreed for it to be opened and the emergency ordinances to be debated.

This bunch of Perikatan Nasional (PN) ministers just keep on falling into Harapan’s trap. Now the whole world would know PN shut down Parliament because they are scared.

This is the tactic Harapan used to take down BN, and this bunch of traitors still think they are winning. Now, who is the real clown?

Xtcher: It's amazing how often the government has resorted to the use of the police to block or obstruct demonstrations of those who feel aggrieved.

I wonder whether they realise each time they do that, they're giving added credit to the cause for which the demonstration is held and further discredits the sincerity and credibility of the government.

Isn't it time for the government to re-think its strategy on how to control such demonstrations peacefully and tactfully without damaging its own reputation, especially now when it's trying to win a place in the UN Human Rights Council?

MarioT: A government that forces itself on the rakyat is no better than a totalitarian regime, clinging to power with the use of power, not the democratic process on which our Constitution is built upon.

Using every so-called devious way to prevent a Parliament from reconvening to debate issues of extreme national importance cannot be condoned by any means.

Other places can be sanitised for a few days if there’s a virus detected in those premises. Similarly, Parliament can be done the same so it can resume the sessions soonest and not wait two weeks.

It is a dangerous game this prime minister is playing, treating the country as his own playfield. You cannot manipulate the laws according to your whims and fancies. The rakyat's patience has its limits.

Dr Raman Letchumanan: I don't think Muhyiddin cares two hoots about the opposition or their numbers. He can openly challenge and rebuke the king and the rulers, an act never envisioned in this country considering the reverence of the rulers in the fabric of Malay society.

For centuries, the royals have withstood every onslaught from both local and foreign colonisers. Even the mighty British, the top superpower then, paid their due respects and worked along with the rulers. Compare this to India, where the Maharajas were decimated.

As always, the biggest enemy and the force that cannot be defeated is within. It is the Malay cabinet that is challenging the rulers, when they should be defending with their life.

They borrowed their powers from the king but use that and the state security apparatus which bears the name of the rulers, to go against the rulers themselves. Isn't this betrayal of the highest order?

The only impediment now defending the constitutionally illegitimate government since March 2020 is the police.

It is a sad moment indeed. How can the police barricade lawmakers, the voice of the rakyat, from entering the august House to do their constitutional duty?

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