NAJIB Razak has been referred to Parliament’s Rights and Privileges Committee for disciplinary action after the former prime minister appeared to have violated an embargo on the Felda white paper.

After an almost two-hour debate, 86 voted to approve the motion while 33 voted against it. Najib was not present for voting.

The opposition had requested for division voting after losing the voice vote.

The motion said Najib had infringed Clause 95A of the Standing Orders, which does not allow members to discuss any matter embargoed by the house.

Najib allegedly posted excerpts of the white paper concerning Felda’s 37% stake purchase in Indonesia’s Eagle High Plantation on his Facebook on Tuesday evening before the white paper on Felda was released the following morning.

The motion to refer Najib to the committee was tabled by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Liew Vui Keong.

Liew said Najib could present his case to the rights and privileges committee, which will table its recommendations to Parliament.

“Whatever the arguments may be, the Pekan MP can face the committee and defend himself.

“The committee can call all those people it thinks needs to be called to investigate the complaint,” he said.

During the debate, opposition members insisted that the whole report was uploaded on Parliament’s website a day earlier.

Opposition leader Ismail Sabri Yaakob said Najib could not have breached any embargo after Parliament had already uploaded the full report on the site.

“On April 9, a day before the white paper was tabled, the document was uploaded onto the Parliament website. It was available for the public to access.

“So, Pekan uploading the document onto Facebook was not a breach. The document had already been made public,” the Bera MP said while speaking against the motion.

Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man (Kubang Kerian-PAS) also called for the motion to be dismissed, saying the embargo was of no purpose after the white paper was shared on Parliament’s website.

“The House doesn’t need to discuss this further. If the document was never uploaded onto the Parliament website, I would also agree to refer Pekan to the committee.

“Instead, I think the House should issue a warning to everyone about not breaching embargoes.”

Speaking in support of the motion Johari Abdul (Sg Petani-PH) said referring Najib to the committee is the right thing to do.

“Pekan will be able to seek justice when he defends himself at the committee, chaired by the speaker. The committee will surely study the matter carefully.

“Sending him to the committee is not to punish him, but to let the committee decide whether he committed wrongdoing.”

Ronald Kiandee (Beluran-PH) asked Johari if he is aware that what Najib posted at 5.39pm on Tuesday were photographs of the White Paper’s hard copy, and not the digital version available on the Parliament website.

“This is why we need to refer him to the committee, to the establish facts, to see if he did anything wrong. We are hearing all sorts of information on the matter,” said Johari.

Lim Kit Siang (Iskandar Puteri-PH) said the government should not make prejudgments.

“Two wrongs don’t make a right. For fairness, the committee should look into the matter before the House is asked to make a decision on the issue.” – April 11, 2019.