KUALA LUMPUR: Political temperature in Malaysia continued to soar as the opposition sought to move an emergency motion of no confidence against Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Monday.

At the parliament house, police were out in full force and security was tight. Barbed wires lined the driveway to parliament as police set up barricades at all access points, causing a massive traffic jam during rush hour.

The heightened security was due to rumours of planned rallies by the opposition. Opposition leaders took the government to task for causing the city's gridlock.

Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Opposition Parliamentary Chief, said: "It's not us, it's the police. What is this? Is this a siege of a fortress and the people in power cannot even listen to a small usul (motion)?"

But Malaysia's Home Minister, Syed Hamid Albar, defended the action taken by the police.

He said: "They take action in order to ensure public safety. The public are very fed up already of demonstrations. It's better to have a (traffic) jam than to have chaos and riots."

He denied that the move was to keep out Anwar, who had originally planned to visit parliament.

"Anwar always uses the public gallery in order to bring unnecessary charges and allegations against the government. He's not a member of parliament and this is not a forum for him. He’s not even a minister," he added.

Wan Azizah also lashed out at the police for allegedly harassing her family in their bid to serve notice on her husband. In protest, Anwar who had earlier agreed to a police interview on Monday afternoon at the headquarters decided to call it off.

The police said they will be looking at other options in order to record a statement from Anwar, including issuing a warrant of arrest in accordance to due process of law. - CNA/vm