KUALA LUMPUR, March 12 — The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) should block access to a White House petition website that was recently used to campaign for the release of jailed Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, a Barisan Nasional (BN) lawmaker urged today.

Simpang Renggam MP Liang Teck Meng cast doubt on the results of the online signature drive started by a former US envoy to Malaysia that crossed its targeted 100,000 mark on the eve of its deadline yesterday.

“I want to suggest to MCMC to blacklist the petition site because it is seen as a way for foreign powers to create chaos in the country,” the lawmaker from Gerakan said while debating the Royal Address in the Parliament.

He urged the federal government to take his proposal seriously to stop foreign powers from interfering in Malaysia’s internal affairs.

Liang voiced his disappointment and alleged that the White House had lost its credibility due to the petition to free Anwar.

“I am very disappointed… I can’t believe the numbers can go up by 30,000 in just a few hours.

“I am very sad that that Malaysians have been fooled and toyed with by the White House for their own political agenda,” he added.

The free Anwar signature drive was launched by former US ambassador to Malaysia John R. Malott on February 10, and sought to petition the US administration under President Barack Obama over the superpower’s policy towards Malaysia.

Screencap of the online petition that was launched by former US ambassador to Malaysia John R. Malott on February 10.

On the same day, the Federal Court upheld the Court of Appeal’s decision to convict Anwar and jail him for five years for sodomising his former political aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.

Since March 9, DAP MPs have been fiercely campaigning to garner the necessary signatures on social media and were successful in acquiring almost 30,000 signatures in under 24 hours.

The pro-Anwar petition was taken down a few days ahead of its expiry, but was reinstated later with a jump in the number of signatures collected.

In a statement yesterday, the White House said that it had mistakenly taken down the online petition on its website seeking its intervention on Anwar’s incarceration for sodomy, after it detected a “high number” of fraudulent signatures on a petition related to the opposition leader.

It was later discovered that the “anomalous signatures” were on a counter-petition against the call for US interference in Anwar’s case.

Both petitions have since been reinstated, though some 60,000 fraudulent signatures were removed from the counter-petition, titled “Respecting the Sovereign Nation of Malaysia”.