KUALA LUMPUR (July 18): Members of Parliament (MPs) from the Perikatan Nasional (PN) opposition coalition staged a walkout on Tuesday after Parliament Speaker Datuk Johari Abdul ejected Putrajaya lawmaker Datuk Radzi Jidin for disrupting the proceedings.

Radzi Jidin (PN-Putrajaya) had persistently demanded that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (PH-Tambun) retract a remark he made against him while discussing the issue of Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's (BN-Bagan Datuk) discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA).

During his winding-up speech on the 12th Malaysian Plan Mid-Term Review, Anwar once again denied government intervention in the Attorney General's (AG) decision to request a DNAA for Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in his Yayasan Akalbudi graft case.

"When the AG made the decision, I merely asked him to explain the reasons behind it. I did not engage in discussions with him. You (Radzi) may laugh, but your administration (PN) did the same when you were in power. Yes," he remarked.

This prompted an angered Radzi to stand up and demand a retraction from Anwar. The situation escalated into a shouting match between government backbenchers and the opposition. Eventually, Speaker Johari Abdul ordered Radzi to leave the House.

After the opposition MPs left, Anwar mocked the opposition, suggesting that the opposition could not tolerate hearing the truth in his explanation.

Anwar reiterated that Radzi was well aware of the events during PN's administration, as the former attorney general Tan Sri Idris Harun was appointed during that period.

He also cited several incidents in the past where court cases which have established prima facie saw the accused granted DNAA for different reasons, including sickness and others and which involved MPs currently in the opposition. 

"This DNAA is not a [special] exception, the decision is the discretion of the Attorney General. Why make accusations and assumed that I interfered? Where is the proof that I interfered [in Zahid's case]?" Anwar said. 

On Sept 4, the government via the prosecution discontinued 12 criminal breach of trust (CBT) charges, followed by eight for graft, and 27 for money laundering against Zahid in relation with Yayasan Akalbudi.

Critics questioned the Attorney-General's Chambers' move to accept Zahid’s letters of representations earlier this year, and to discontinue the charges despite the court having established a prima facie case, with Zahid having entered his defence.

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