By P Prem Kumar
KUALA LUMPUR
Malaysian opposition lawmakers wore black to the third session of the13th Parliament opening Monday in protest at the imprisonment of their leader Anwar Ibrahim on sodomy charges.
About 40 parliamentarians from Ibrahim's People's Alliance party wore black suits and "Baju Melayu" (Malay customary attire), to object to his exclusion and the decision to not allow him to attend the session.
The party had applied for Ibrahim to be allowed to attend as he is still opposition leader, but the prisons department had rejected the application.
The session was opened by Malaysian King Tuanku Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah. In normal circumstances, Members of Parliament are supposed to wear "dress code 1" -- a white royal uniform -- for such an opening.
A spokesperson from Ibrahim's People Justice Party told The Anadolu Agency that wearing black was a collective decision made by the top leadership of the alliance to express solidarity for Ibrahim.
"We wanted to wear black because the opposition leader was not allowed to attend Parliament. There is no order but it was a collective decision," said N. Surendran.
"It is not business for usual for us [the People's Alliance] since he [Ibrahim] is in jail and we want the government to know that."
Ibrahim, a former deputy prime minister, has been sentenced to five years in prison for sodomising his personal aide Saiful Bukhari Azlan six years ago.
On Monday, the Star Online reported that his eldest daughter, Nurul Izzah, had confirmed that she will read the opposition leader's speech tomorrow in Parliament, on behalf of her father.
People's Alliance MP Liew Chin Tong, however, denied reports that the party had suggested she take up the role of opposition leader in Ibrahim’s absence.
"We didn't back Izzah as the new opposition leader. We only agreed that she should read out the Permatang Pauh MP’s debate speech," he told The Star Online.
