War of words: Azalina speaking in the Dewan Rakyat. — Bernama
A WAR of words broke out in the Dewan Rakyat when MPs from both sides clashed over the proposed House Arrest Bill.
Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan (PN-Kota Bharu) questioned whether the alleged addendum on the house arrest linked to Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s partial pardon actually existed.
“Does this addendum exist as per the affidavits of Bagan Datuk (Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi) and Pahang Mentri Besar (Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail)?” the Opposition chief whip asked Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said.
The minister was speaking during her winding-up speech on the Supply Bill 2025 in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.
Takiyuddin said prior to this, he had asked on the content, justification and relevance of the proposed House Arrest Bill, which was part of Budget 2025.
Azalina said she was not responsible for the proposed House Arrest Bill and only the Home Minister could answer on the matter.
She told Takiyuddin to direct his question to the Home Minister when he winds up the debate on behalf of his ministry.
Takiyuddin then told her that the Attorney General’s Chambers comes under her purview, which saw her hitting back at Takiyuddin, a former law minister.
“Don’t tell me you did not receive any information from the AG on the (alleged) addendum?” she said.
“As a former law minister, are you saying the AG reports to you? Is that what you are assuming?”
She said as de facto Law Minister, she was not involved in the appointment of the AG, neither does she goes through his files nor is she involved in the Pardons Board, which the Federal Territories Minister is part of.
Chaos erupted when Takiyuddin said Azalina should not resort to “trickery”.
Azalina said as the former minister in charge of law, Takiyuddin should have been “smarter” than her.
“You are using trickery. Are you admitting you did give directions to the AG when you were minister? We don’t do that in the Madani government,” she added.
Takiyuddin told Azalina she should have just said that she was unable to answer his question.
The Court of Appeal has set Dec 5 to hear Najib’s appeal over the dismissal of his leave application for a judicial review regarding an alleged addendum on the house arrest.
The 71-year-old former prime minister’s application was rejected by the Kuala Lumpur High Court on July 3, 2024, which found that the four affidavits supporting his claim, including those from Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and vice-president Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail, were hearsay.
Najib has been incarcerated in Kajang Prison since Aug 23, 2022, after being convicted of embezzling RM42mil in funds belonging to SRC International Sdn Bhd.
Following his conviction, he filed a petition for a royal pardon on Sept 2, 2022, which resulted in a reduction of his sentence from 12 years to six years and his fine from RM210mil to RM50mil.
