I was at the Petaling Jaya Magistrate’s Court 3 where DAP Selangor State Exco member Ronnie Liu was charged with a new-fangled offence – abetting in the obstruction of a public officer in the carrying out of his duty without the alleged principal offender being charged.
If convicted, Ronnie will be liable to the penalties of the parent charge of Section 186 of the Penal Code on obstruction of a public officer in carrying out his duties, i.e. RM10,000 fine, two years jail or both. This can lead to forfeiture of Ronnie’s position as Selangor State Assemblyman and Exco member and disqualification from standing for any elective office for five years.
Ronnie’s charge is the third political trial after the March 8 political tsunami, after blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin for criminal defamation and sedition and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for sodomy.
Clearly, the Barisan Nasional leaders have neither heard the message nor learn the lessons of the March 8 “political tsunami” which, in the relevant case, is that there should be no more political trials in the country.
It is these political trials which brought the national and international confidence in the independence, impartiality and integrity of the judiciary to such a nadir.
I was intrigued by Deputy Public Prosecutor Roslan Abu Bakar invoking “the spirit of law” in his application for a RM5,000 bail for Ronnie as it is the Public Prosecutor who had violated “the spirit of law” in fathering such a new-fangled charge against Ronnie – more than one year after its alleged commission.
If the charge against Ronnie is so serious and grave, why did the Police and the Attorney-General take more than a year before taking action?
Is the sudden arrest and charging of Ronnie after forgetting about the matter for moré than a year more related to the current Umno party elections so that former Selangor Mentri Besar Khir Toyo could gain political mileage in his contest for the post of Umno Youth leader?
Ronnie is out on RM3,500 bail with one surety with the case fixed for mention for Feb. 10 next year.