It started with Tajuddin Abdul Rahman (BN-Pasir Salak) asking about the benefits of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).
Tajuddin asked if there were problems with human rights in Malaysia.
He then claimed that Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah, who was wrapping up his ministerial speech, was a liberal and “willing to sell your own people politically”.
Hassan Abdul Karim (PH-Pasir Gudang) said the majority of Malays were concerned about the issue.
“ICERD is a big issue with the Malay community. I just came back from my kampung. They asked me to postpone it first.
“They say there are economic problems, unemployment and other issues. I urge the Cabinet to rethink this issue.
“It does not need to be tackled right away. We need to prioritise other issues,” he said while Saifuddin was wrapping up his ministerial speech at the Dewan Rakyat.
Anwar Ibrahim (PH-Port Dickson) also asked the government to postpone discussions on ratifying ICERD due to all the concerns raised.
Ahmad Maslan (BN-Pontian) said there was no rush for the government to ratify the treaty as “we have not ratified it since the 1960s and nothing has happened to the country”.
Khairy Jamaluddin (BN-Rembau) asked the government to reconsider its decision as even Pakatan Harapan MPs were not comfortable with ratifying the treaty just yet.
“I don’t see any public engagements.”
Saifuddin then said a decision will be made by the Cabinet.
Earlier, Saifuddin said the benefits of ICERD could not be measured through foreign direct investments or through global trade.
“This ratification is for a few reasons. We believe it needs to be done.
“We need to send an official report to UN every four or five years and we get comments from other governments.
“We at PH feel we need to improve on our own human rights.”
He said certain parts of ICERD could be reserved and there was no need to amend Article 153 of the Federal Constitution, on the special rights for Bumiputeras.
Saifuddin said public engagements were being held to collect feedback from the people.
Earlier this week, BN and PAS MPs created chaos in the lower house when Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department P Waytha Moorthy was giving a speech on ICERD.
He was called a racist and a liar after a video of the minister’s interview with Dutch media, which he gave 10 years ago, emerged on social media.