KUALA LUMPUR, July 26 — The Special Select Committee on International Affairs will be calling Law Minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Abdullah and Attorney General (AG) Tan Sri Idrus Harun to explain the claims by the heirs of the Sulu sultanate.
Its chairman Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub said the bipartisan committee had communicated the matter to the respective members and the proceedings were important after several parliamentary motions were brought by MPs through Standing Order 18(1).
“The proceedings will start on August 11,” he told a press conference in Parliament today.
Last week, a shouting match ensued in Parliament after Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Azhar Idris Harun refused to allow a motion to discuss the claims of the Sulu sultanate’s heirs.
The motion was submitted by Kota Belud MP Isnaraissah Munirah Majlis, who stood up before the second reading of the National Forestry (Amendment) Bill 2022, saying that it had been rejected by the Speaker for the third time.
On July 20, Azhar said he prohibited parliamentarians from debating the legal bid to seize Malaysian assets abroad by the self-styled heirs of the defunct Sulu sultanate to prevent revealing Putrajaya’s counter strategies.
Azhar was forced to explain his decision to reject several motions that would have allowed the international suit to be scrutinised after Opposition lawmakers insisted that the Speaker had made an erroneous ruling, which sparked an uproar.
