The Malaysian Insider

UPDATED

By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal

KUALA LUMPUR, March 22 — PKR MPs want Barisan Nasional to cancel its existing contract with APCO following claims made by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim that the public relations company had clear links with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

The lawmakers also claimed that APCO's partner ASERO, a security and risk management consultant, was staffed by former Israeli intelligence officers.

Anwar had claimed last week that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s “1 Malaysia” slogan was a mere rehashing of Israel’s “1 Israel” campaign back in 1999.

UPDATED

By Syed Jaymal Zahiid

KUALA LUMPUR, March 22 — Parliament descended into pandemonium today as Kota Belud MP Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan broke parliamentary procedure in order to threaten Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (picture) with being referred to the Parliamentary Rights and Privileges Committee.

Abdul Rahman spoke after Question Time and cited Parliamentary Standing Order number 37 1 (A) to give himself time to issue the threat to Anwar explain his “One Israel” remark.

The warning from the BN backbencher was initially met with fierce objection from Ipoh Timur MP and the DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang who argued that Abdul Rahman had no merit to raise the Standing Order.

By Clara Chooi

KUALA LUMPUR, March 22 — Independent MP Datuk Seri Zahrain Hashim (picture) said Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim promised to create three deputy prime minister posts for representatives of each Pakatan Rakyat (PR) component party, if he were to become prime minister.

The three, claimed Zahrain, were DAP’s Lim Kit Siang, PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang and one other person from Sabah or Sarawak.

He added that the plan was Anwar’s strategy to ensure that DAP and PAS leaders were “well-fed” with positions in the government and would then continue to throw their support behind him as prime minister.

By Adib Zalkapli

KUAL LUMPUR, March 22 — Pasir Mas MP Datuk Ibrahim Ali today urged the government to form a royal commission of inquiry to investigate various wrongdoings allegedly committed by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Ibrahim who also heads the Malay nationalist group Perkasa told Parliament the opposition leader’s conduct in handling his Sodomy II case has embarrassed the country’s judiciary system.

“Many political leaders have been brought to courts before, but they faced the process calmly and did not resort to chaos or mobilise their supporters,” said Ibrahim when debating the Royal Address.

KUALA LUMPUR, March 22 — Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein commended eight Barisan Nasional (BN) MPs today for their loyalty to the coalition when they rejected offers to cross over to the opposition.

He said that he had met some of them and found out that they had rejected attempts by Pakatan Rakyat to court them into joining the opposition coalition.

“I managed to chat with a few of them who said when approached and promised many things, allegations such as the King has given consent, they told me that they reject it completely,” he told the media in Parliament here.