Info In Report Not Secret Gov T Withdraws Motion Against Bersih

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PARLIAMENT | The government has withdrawn its motion for Parliament to probe Bersih for breaking the embargo on the 2017 Sabah redelineation report which was to have been tabled today. The withdrawal was requested by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Liew Vui Keong in the Dewan Rakyat at 4.20pm, although no reason was given. Speaking to reporters in Parliament lobby later, the de facto law minister said it was decided the information contained in the redelineation report was not secret. “You see, the report on Sabah redelineation exercise has been debated in Sabah state assembly in 2016. “So, the information contained in the report was not kept secret. It was already revealed to the public in Sabah. So I feel it is not right to take action against them (Bersih),” he said. When questioned why the motion was tabled in the first place, Liew said this was based on Bersih’s own admission that it had breached the embargo
He said: “At the beginning, there was an admission by Bersih in a letter that they had breached the embargo and they stated they want to pay the fine.” The motion had been listed as item number six in the Dewan Rakyat's Order Paper for today, the last day of Parliament's sitting this session. This came as the electoral group had on Tuesday revealed the report ahead of its tabling the following day. Bersih had expressed its “disappointment” that the “malicious, flawed and obsolete” report was not made public sooner. Bersih had said it was willing to pay the RM1,000 fine to the Dewan Rakyat speaker's office. If the motion was approved by the House, a committee would need to determine if the Sabah redelineation report and two others were still embargoed until tabled in the Dewan Rakyat on July 17. Earlier today, DAP MP Lim Kit Saing had deemed the government motion “superfluous”as he claimed the embargo ended when the report was tabled in Parliament on July 8. - Mkini

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