KUALA LUMPUR: Independent Bayan Baru member of parliament (MP) Datuk Seri Zahrain Mohamed Hashim on Thursday, March 18, persisted with his attacks against Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, claiming that the latter had "monopolised" the flow of information to the international scene.

Zahrain, who on Thursday resumed his debate on the royal address, claimed that a special assistant to Anwar (Permatang Pauh-PKR) had sought the cancellation of a forum organised by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) forum in Washington DC, US.

"This is because Permatang Pauh (Anwar) has all along monopolised any meeting with America's side and determining what type of information can be transmitted to the American administration," Zahrain told the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday.

Zahrain said he was informed of the matter by the event's organiser when the former recently went to Washington DC as part of the Malaysian parliamentarians' delegation.

The CSIS forum on Feb 24 heard speeches from Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz (Padang Rengas-BN), Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail and former Chief Justice Tun Abdul Hamid Mohamed.

Zahrain, who was formerly Penang PKR chief, then reprimanded the Barisan Nasional (BN) government and the diplomatic corps for "failing" to effectively explain the situation in Malaysia to the international stage.

"In my view, Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders are able to incite other countries to hate our country due to the weaknesses and failures of the government to seriously and systematically address the problem," he said.

Zahrain added that while some ambassadors and diplomats may be quite professional in their work, they would sometimes "overlook the political importance and impact of an issue" to the country.

The fiesty newly independent MP then proposed that experienced politicians be appointed as ambassadors to "critical countries" including Britain, Australia, Turkey and the Middle East.

Zahrain also praised Nazri and and Malaysia's ambassador to the US Datuk Jamaluddin Jarjis (Rompin-BN) for their "successful efforts" in breaking the opposition's "political mask".

The former PKR man was resuming his tirade against PR after he raised the temperature of the House on Wednesday when he revealed how he had been "fooled" into believing that PR would take over the federal government from BN on Sept 16, 2008.

Anwar's ongoing sodomy trial had intensified international attention and criticisms against Malaysia, with US Senator John Kerry and some 50 Australian MPs speaking up for Anwar's legal rights in the criminal trial.

Anwar was absent from parliament on Thursday as he is currently in London for meetings and lectures.

During his speech on Thursday, Zahrain also picked on Anwar's special assistant Aasil Kazi Ahmad, whom Zahrain said was an American-born Pakistani and asked the home ministry to "take stern action to expel such a treacherous character".

Next, Zahrain fired away at news portal Malaysiakini and controversial blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin of working "hand in glove" with PR to perform character assassination against "anyone that is the stumbling block to their dream of snatching Putrajaya at all costs".

Zahrain claimed that Raja Petra was now in London, being "protected" in the posh dwellings belonging to a senior leader of PKR, prompting N Gobalakrishnan (Padang Serai-PKR) to dare Zahrain to name the person.

At this juncture, Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud (Kota Raja-Pas) lashed out at Zahrain for wasting the Dewan Rakyat's time with his allegations.

"This is similar to when a husband and wife divorce but when they were married, it was all beautiful. We have many issues to raise here. Speaker, we have wasted enough time. Why is it necessary for Bayan Baru to repeat what he said?

"(He says) this side, that side has spin doctors, this side and that side have tentera upahan ("hired army"). This is politics. You (Zahrain) point one finger at Permatang Pauh (Anwar), but there are three more fingers pointing back at you," Siti Mariah said in an increasingly exasperated tone.