The motion to suspend Wan Fayhsal was tabled by law and institutional reform minister Azalina Othman Said.
He was suspended after a bloc vote in which 110 MPs voted in favour of the motion and 63 voted against it. Three MPs abstained while 46 were absent.
Wan Fayhsal is said to have referred to the letter when debating the Suhakam report in the Dewan Rakyat earlier this month.
He had named an EPF employee as being allegedly involved in the takeover and cited the negative treatment of the employee’s subordinates.
Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority are poised to take up a 30% stake in MAHB through a consortium led by sovereign wealth fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd, which will own 40%, and EPF, which will own 30%.
Several quarters have objected to the deal as GIP will be acquired in the third quarter of this year by global investment firm BlackRock, which has stakes in US defence companies which allegedly manufacture weapons used by Israel.
However, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has said that GIP was chosen from among other companies as it had accepted the condition that the chairman and CEO of MAHB must be Malaysian.
GIP has said BlackRock is not involved in the deal. Khazanah also maintains that GIP will not be involved in the management of the airport operator.
Takiyuddin Hassan (PN-Kota Bharu) said Johari should first determine if the individual identified by Wan Fayhsal could indeed be categorised as a civil servant.
He said the Standing Orders only stipulate that “no reference shall be made in any debate to the conduct or character of any member of Parliament or of any public servant”.
He also objected to the wording of the accusations levelled against Wan Fayhsal in the motion, saying the MP’s statement based on the poison-pen letter was not seditious in nature, nor had he used “treasonable words”.
He added that Wan Fayhsal had not used words which were likely to promote feelings of ill-will or hostility among the different communities.
Azli Yusof (PH-Shah Alam) however said that by referencing a poison-pen letter, Wan Fayhsal had “tainted the sanctity of the lower house” by citing inaccurate information to score political points.
He also said that the individual identified by Wan Fayhsal in the Dewan Rakyat was not able to defend himself due to the immunity granted to MPs.