Is Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim colluding with the United Malays Nationwide Group to free former prime minister Najib Tun Razak from jail?
It may need been far-fetched a couple of months in the past however current developments seem to counsel that one thing nefarious is perhaps afoot. Each the previous attorney-general who charged Najib, in addition to the excessive court docket decide who convicted him, have come underneath sustained assault with a view to discrediting them. Aspersions have additionally been forged on different judges as effectively. The chief justice has acquired demise threats.
Even from captivity in Kuala Lumpur’s Kajang Jail, Najib stays arguably one of many nation’s most influential political figures. UMNO’s goal is obvious sufficient: to influence the general public that though he was discovered responsible and his sentence upheld by the very best court docket within the land, he’s an harmless sufferer, a person who was focused after which railroaded by the justice system as a part of some grand conspiracy to destroy UMNO and by extension, Malay political energy.
Don’t for one minute consider that each one that is being achieved as a result of they consider Najib is harmless; the proof is simply too overwhelming for that. This mass hoax about Najib’s innocence is being perpetrated as a result of UMNO is determined sufficient to consider that liberating Najib will end in an enormous outpouring of sympathy and assist for UMNO. It’s not about justice; it’s about energy and politics.
That there’s high-level collusion occurring behind the scenes is not unsure. Revelations that Azalina Othman Mentioned, Minister within the Prime Minister’s Division (Legislation and Institutional Reform) had written to Najib’s attorneys confirming {that a} Malaysian Anti-Corruption Fee investigation had discovered Justice Nazlan Ghazali (the decide who presided over Najib’s SRC case) to be in battle of curiosity and had violated the Judges’ Code of Ethics, makes this very clear.
What recreation is the MACC taking part in by sharing its stories with Azalina? Such stories are usually submitted to the AG for additional motion, not shared with politicians. And what cause can Azalina should expose such info to Najib’s attorneys, realizing full effectively that it will inevitably be made public? Has a backchannel been set as much as cross delicate info to Najib to assist him?
In any case, the MACC’s investigation has been totally discredited by the Federal Courtroom which discovered that the investigation of Justice Nazlan was unconstitutional, unlawful, and undermined the independence of the judiciary. In different phrases, the MACC report is trash; it ought to by no means have been circulated go away alone made out to be the ultimate phrase on the guilt or in any other case of Justice Nazlan. It’s not Justice Nazlan – who has now been exonerated twice by the court docket – who stands discredited however the MACC chief. He ought to have been instantly sacked after the courts rebuked him.
Having suitably muddied the waters, forged aspersions on the integrity of the complete judicial system, and created doubts about Najib’s guilt, UMNO is now pushing for an instantaneous royal pardon for Najib.
A elementary tenet of the judicial system – that almost all view prevails in each the Courtroom of Enchantment and the Federal Courtroom – is being upended; the dissenting voice of a single decide is being given credence over that of 13 different judges. If this iniquitous scheme succeeds, our judiciary is pretty much as good as useless.
Whereas it comes as no shock that UMNO would go to such lengths to overturn Najib’s conviction, what’s astonishing is that the Prime Minister himself has mentioned nothing up to now. The judiciary, an important nationwide establishment, one of many pillars of our democracy, is underneath assault and the Prime Minister stays a mute witness.
Is there no ethical outrage from the person who has made good governance his center title? Is the Prime Minister okay with this conspiracy to defame judges and undermine the judiciary? He actually can’t be unaware of what’s occurring and neither can he be unmindful of the implications of UMNO’s actions. Does his silence imply consent? Is that this the value that he has secretly agreed to pay for UMNO’s assist?
I voted for Anwar and Pakatan Harapan as a result of I believed them to be sincere leaders deeply dedicated to justice, institutional reform and good governance. And I get it that for the sake of political stability, UMNO must be a part of the federal government. But when the top result’s merely an association to maintain them in energy at the price of our judiciary and of all the pieces we maintain pricey, then what’s the level of all of it?
Dennis Ignatius is a former senior Malaysian diplomat and ambassador. That is taken from his weblog www.dennisignatius.com.
