FORMER UMNO Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin has advised Perikatan Nasional (PN) lawmakers to be careful when engaging with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in Parliament.

Khairy says Anwar is unlike the prime minister before this, who usually maintained a more statesman-like behaviour in the Parliament.

“Here’s an unsolicited advice for PN - the Prime Minister (PM) now is unlike other PMs. The previous PMs would not engage in shouting matches, they would take a more statesman-like approach to parliamentary affairs,” Khairy said in his podcast Keluar Sekejap.

“Former prime ministers like Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob do not do what Anwar does, which can be good or bad depending on your perspective.

“PMX (Anwar) is one of the PMs who likes to provoke, true to his street fighter background. He is definitely not a statesman in Parliament, so you must be careful when engaging with him as I don’t recall any previous prime ministers who react that way. That is his style, you can like it, or you don’t like it, that is up to you.”

The former Rembau MP was commenting on the incident which took place last Tuesday (Sept 19), where PN had staged a walk out from the Dewan Rakyat following a protracted argument when Anwar was delivering his winding-up speech on the 12th Malaysia Plan (RMK-12) mid-term review.

Chaos had erupted when Anwar took a swipe at Datuk Radzi Jidin for laughing when he was explaining the issue of the discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) granted to Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Additionally, Khairy said Radzi “fell into Anwar’s trap” after the latter had noticed Radzi laughing at something which had then led to Anwar singling him out during the parliamentary session.

“Normally you just let it go or say something equally provocative and sit down, but it appears that he (Radzi) fell into Anwar’s trap and in the end the shouting session that led to PN walkout occurred,” Khairy said.

Podcast co-host Shahril Hamdan concurred, saying Radzi possibly scored an “own goal” politically by reacting the way he did in Parliament.

“He (Radzi) should have just given a quick witty response and sat down. Then, the focus would have been on PM’s provocation, but now the focus is on Putrajaya’s (Radzi’s) anger and prolonged tirade in Parliament.”

Following this, an enraged Radzi then stood up and demanded that Anwar retract his statement before the Prime Minister could even elaborate further.

This led to a shouting match which lasted more than 20 minutes as PN MPs demanded Anwar to withdraw his remark while Pakatan Harapan (PH) MPs defended him.

When Radzi insisted that Anwar retract his remark, he was given the marching orders which resulted in PN staging a walkout. - Sept 26, 2023

https://focusmalaysia.my/anwar-likes-to-provoke-be-careful-when-engaging-him-in-parliament-kj-warns-pn/