Malaysia parl't to discipline Anwar Ibrahim's daughter

By P Prem Kumar

KUALA LUMPUR

Malaysia's parliament has agreed on a motion to take disciplinary action against opposition MP Nurul Izzah Anwar after she was pictured meeting self-claimed Sulu princess Jacel Kiram.

With 105 MPs favouring the motion Thursday to take action -- and 77 voting against -- Anwar was reduced to tears.

The daughter of imprisoned former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim had been referred to the parliamentary rights and privileges committee as her meeting with Kiram -- whose father Jamalil Kiram III was instrumental in a deadly incursion into Sabah state in 2013 -- was considered insensitive.

A photo of the two was posted Nov. 9 to Jacel's Facebook page under the name Princess Jacel H. Kiram-Hasan.

In it, the two hold "Release Anwar [Ibrahim] Immediately" posters. Ibrahim is serving five years in prison for sodomizing a former aide.

Speaking before the voting process, Anwar apologized for her actions and explained that she was not aware of Kiram's history when posing for the image which was taken during a Nov. 9-10 trip to the Philippines.

She said the trip was at the invitation of the Philippines government, and included a dinner in support of a call by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention calling for the release of Ibrahim from prison.

"Group photos were arranged and I took pictures with all who attended the dinner. Jacel Kiram was one of 15 guests at the dinner and in fact I was introduced to her as a Philippine congress candidate under a United Nationalist Alliance ticket," she said

“I am sorry and apologize especially to all the families of the victims of Lahad Datu, the people of Sabah and all Malaysians who were angry with the photo."

In 2013, Kiram's father -- a claimant to the throne of the Sultanate of Sulu -- ordered 200 of his “Royal Sulu Army” to invade Lahad Datu in the East Malaysian state of Sabah, which resulted in hundreds of casualties.

“Seven years ago, I took an oath to defend this country we love, the Federal Constitution and the people from any bad elements from outside or inside the country. And I have done everything to the best of my ability to uphold the trust the people have placed in me,” she said, as tears rolled down her cheeks.

The 2013 invasion started Feb. 11 and ended 40 days later after a dramatic standoff involving 235 armed militants -- calling themselves the "Royal Security Forces of the Sultanate of Sulu and North Borneo" -- who arrived on boats from Tawi-Tawi in the southern Philippines.

After several weeks of negotiations and unmet deadlines for the intruders to withdraw, local forces attacked and routed the Sulu militants.

At the time, Kiram III stated his objective as asserting the Philippines' territorial claim to eastern Sabah (the former North Borneo).

To this day, the claim remains unresolved.