If Najib can attend Parliament while in prison, the Home Ministry will have to explain why it barred 11 DAP MPs from attending Parliament when detained under the ISA during Operation Lalang

If former Prime Minister, Najib Razak, can attend Parliament while in prison, the Home Ministry will have to explain why it barred 11 DAP MPs from attending Parliament when detained under the Internal Security Act during Operation Lalang.

At first, eleven DAP MPs were arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA) during Operation Lalang, but five DAP MPs were formally detained after the 60-day custodial detention, and they were Lim Kit Siang, Karpal Singh, P. Patto, Tan Seng Giaw and Lim Guan Eng.

The 11 DAP MPs who were initially detained in October 1987 were not able to continue to attend the 1987 Budget meeting of Parliament, while the five DAP MPs formally detained after the 60-day custodial detention in Kamunting Detention Centre missed from two to five Parliamentary meetings.

Guan Eng and I missed five parliamentary meetings from October 27, 1987 to 19th June 1989 as we were released in April 1989.

Furthermore, when Guan Eng was imprisoned for a year under the Sedition Act in 1998, he was not allowed to attend Parliament.

Why then the demand for special consideration for Najib who is in prison for corruption charges?