— The Malaysian Insider
Jan 09, 2012
JAN 9 — This was a verdict out of the left field. There was jubilation in the ranks of the opposition and the recrimination has already started in Umno and Perkasa.
In this politically polarised nation, The Malaysian Insider polls who can walk away from this case considered a winner and who will slink away as a loser.
Winners:
1) Anwar Ibrahim
The whole machinery of the government and ruling coalition was trained on this one man for three years. He and his family were vilified daily.
A less of a fighter would have crumbled in the face of these ferocious and nasty attacks (remember the snide comments by Messrs Najib and others at the Umno assembly) but Anwar fought back, giving as good as he received.
Today, he is still standing and possibly re-energised by this ordeal.
2) Karpal Singh and the team of defence lawyers
The veteran DAP lawyer is sometimes more bombast than anything else but he expertly navigated through the second sodomy trial, in the process shredding Saiful’s testimony, casting serious doubts on evidence and on the manner the case was handled and on the competency of the government’s Chemistry Department.
3) Nik Aziz, Hadi Awang and other PAS stalwarts.
Immense pressure was applied by Umno and the Malay-language dailies for PAS to disengage from Pakatan Rakyat over Anwar’s sodomy charge.
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi even tried to use the sodomy charge to persuade PAS to team up with Umno after the 2008 elections. But PAS leaders, especially Nik Aziz Nik Mat, stayed loyal.
4) The Najib government
The government wasted little time in crafting a statement hailing the acquittal as a kudos for the reforms proposed by the Najib administration and as proof of the independence of the judiciary.
Definitely, the administration will score points with fencesitters and foreign governments for not “interfering” with the case.
The administration could ride on the momentum and expect Prime Minister Najib Razak to use this court decision to beat the reform drum upon his return from South Africa this afternoon.
5) High Court judge Mohd Zabidin Mohd Diah
For sifting through the facts and fiction of the case. He sat patiently through it all, absorbing the histrionics that both sides gave and never letting it affect his judgment.
And this was the judge that Karpal tried to recuse many times.
In the end, he decided based on the facts.
Losers:
1) Umno, Perkasa
Don’t expect the likes of Ibrahim Ali or Dr Mahathir Mohamad to be celebrating this court decision. They and others from Umno/Perkasa had been hoping to see Anwar locked up.
The inquisition has already begin in Umno where much energy and its reputation have been invested in hammering Anwar. The court decision could hurt morale within Umno.
2) Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan
The complainant who spent a lot of time and energy to prove that his cause was genuine, to the extent of taking an oath on the Quran.
But this is a criminal case in a secular court, based on facts. And the facts were found wanting.
His actions before and after he lodged a police report also gave rise to speculation of a plot.
3) The Attorney-General’s Chambers and the police force
The case was flimsy from the start and should have been thrown out at the prosecution stage. Is there any other state prosecution team which has a more disastrous record in big trials?
Is there any other A-G who continues to prosper despite the dismal record of his chambers? Well, what more can be said about the police but “how did it get so bad”. DNA evidence was kept in a cupboard for much longer than was acceptable.
4) The mainstream media
Take a bow, Utusan Malaysia, New Straits Times, Berita Harian, TV3, The Star, RTM, Bernama and other members of the government media. Little space was given to the trial when the prosecution’s case was being demolished.
Court reporting was dictated and manipulated by senior editors with the aim of skewing public opinion.
How much did Sodomy II cost us in terms of $$$$ and non $$$$ ?
Depends on what price you attach to the young man’s a$$hole.
Consider the vast amount of national resources (investigators or better call them fabricators, courts, lawyers, media, …) wasted on this game, who should pay for it? It is the poor people
Najib and UMNO attached a very high price to the a$$hole, but it appears that they have overestimated the value. It’s now virtually worthless.
OK now the fabrication on “main belakang” is not successful, lets fabricate “main depan”
Oh no I would not part with even half a single cent for his rearside.
Interesting that TheMalaysianInsider considers the Najib Government as one of the winners but UMNO (along with Perkasa) as one of the losers. Surely you are not dissociating entirely the Najib Government from UMNO in terms of where they stand on the fall out of the Anwar’s acquittal verdict, are you?
You forget also to mention the obvious – that the winners are also Malaysians in general and Pakatan Rakyat, on balance.
Surely when mentioning Anwar, Karpal Singh and the team of defence lawyers or Nik Aziz, Hadi Awang and other PAS stalwarts as one of the winners, you have forgotten about DAP, and you cannot seriously imply Anwar is = Pakatan Rakyat.
The rakyat are the winner as well because of people power. Not many Malaysians believed Sodomy II right from the start.
Let us do more than celebrate this victory.
This is clearly a case of abuse of powers and so we should work hard to kick out the BN regime to do a proper audit of what has gone wrong with the system and fix the problems.
///It shows that Mr Najib is willing to step away from interfering in the judiciary/// – Bridget Welsh. Ibrahim Suffian agreed with Rais – that PM Najib reclaimed middle ground to continue reforms (see TheMalaysianInsider Jan 9)
Its ironical that you guys making him a winner/hero. The sodomy II charge should not have been ventured into in the first place and the verdict is damage control to avert a major electoral disaster, which he, at least, to his limited credit, is willing to take cognizance of. This is no basis to paint him a hero and heap accolades that the path to reforms set by him will be carried out without derailment or that the verdict rebuts allegations of independence of judiciary, though it is conceded it provides a measure of propaganda boost/opportunity to BN as recompense for the disaster in the whole exercise of charging & prosecuting the case based on miscalculations.
///It shows that Mr Najib is willing to step away from interfering in the judiciary///
Step away from interfering in the judiciary?? Asking the judge to not give a guilty verdict is still interference.
Kangaroo courts to bring down UMNO b opponents days are coming to an end soon.
The surprised turnabout verdict proves only that Najib and Mahathir no more powerful nor can influence at will to do as they like.
It spells the end of UMNO b dictatorship regime.
It’s just the begging to and end for BN government.
It’s the beginning of a new era…the era of change for better..for freedom and for equal rights..for a Malaysian Malaysia.
What a wonderful news it is.
When you keep on fooling your own race..one day all will know and that day has arrive.
The saddest part of all is to see Mahathir never repent nor admit he is the dirtiest politician in the history of Malaysia’s independence.
He is born with the blessing from Lucifer.
People like Ibrahim Ali…Hasan Ali and thousands of fanatics..racists..are all created by Mahathir.
Yes Mahathir IS Lucifer’s creation.
Get rid of UMNO b…you get rid of Lucifer..controlling Malaysia.
My friends,
We have won a battle. We have yet to win the war.
This has always been a political persecution, so the solution must be political. UMNO has sacrifice a knight or castle, but we must win the chess game. We have to change the tenant at Putrajaya
We must change the tenant at Putrajaya. GE 13 is our best chance. Failure is not an option. Let us all work very very hard.
///The winners:
4) The Najib government
The government wasted little time in crafting a statement hailing the acquittal as a kudos for the reforms proposed by the Najib administration and as proof of the independence of the judiciary.
Definitely, the administration will score points with fencesitters and foreign governments for not “interfering” with the case.
The administration could ride on the momentum and expect Prime Minister Najib Razak to use this court decision to beat the reform drum upon his return from South Africa this afternoon.///
The earliest loser is in fact the Abdullah government which allowed Sodomy II to be pursued and the mastermind of the dirty trick is none other than Najib. The proceedings right from how the person who was raped and thus according to Najib had a citizen’s right to due court process proved only that the AG utilized the convention to serve ‘public interest’ by charging one of the two parties for consensual sodomy. Unfortunately for Najib the 100 hours old sperms could not be accepted as to have retained its pristine characteristics. The key evidence was suspect. The judge at last has the self-esteem to accept that he would have done himself in had he followed the script entirely. Though Najib might gain the reputation that he had allowed the judge independence but the truth is the government has always made it difficult for judges to choose independence over obedience. In the present case, whatever Najib wishes, he had to deal with another human. Though absolute power corrupts absolutely, but at times even the king cannot make a cat to look at him.
The biggest loser of the case is Najib. But he considered the end justifies the means. Najib wanted to remove Anwar using rule by law, and trump up charges, but the perfect scheme was not a perfect crime.
The police was another loser. There were more important cases which it should have pursued, such as against the murderers of TBH, but it chose to give more value to Saiful Bukhari’s asshole.
The attorney general was most stupid. What public interest was the AG trying to protect when Sodomy was between two person? How did AG deter others from sodomy in publicizing the case when it is seen that sodomy is a worth while activity with scholarship, perhaps from the private purse of the most powerful person, and other unknown rewards thrown in.
The Sodomy case shows that Najib felt the threat of Anwar and he displayed his fear that he would not be able to beat Anwar in a free and fair election.
Najib could not finish what he started to do and had to accept that even with all the power he could not suppress justice all the time.
Najib is still a joke to leaders of other countries as the person who would use extra-political means to wipe out his political opponent. The world leaders are treated to the show of how Najib politicizes the apparatus of the state to remain in power. Malaysia suffers too because of Najib’s action.
The independence of the judiciary in the country depends on whether the judge in question chooses to be independent. The environment they work shows that independence was always a difficult choice, rather than a certainly that can be expected.
There cannot be any reform because the government is deformed.
Foreign governments are certain that the government interferes in the case in a cunning manner rather than blindly. They expect other non-sodomy cases against Anwar would surface, such as for making unclear police report.
“…The government wasted little time in crafting a statement hailing the acquittal as a kudos for the reforms proposed by the Najib administration and as proof of the independence of the judiciary….”
And you know why? The obscene haste with which the statement was released meant the Govt already knew what the verdict would be and the statement was already prepared. The Govt. knew it had painted themselves into a corner and it would be courting disaster if any other verdict were to be delivered at this point in time. First priority is the GE and the BN Govt is wary of the voter backlash and is loathe to rock the boat at this critical point in time. There is always that Court of Appeal and the Federal Court to overturn this verdict as Ibrahim Ali had warned Anwar. Remember what happened with the Perak Govt grab and the subsequent court cases? And remember who engineered that? The moment the BN Govt is returned to power in the next GE, we all know what the final verdict would be.
The AG, PDRM, Judiciary, MSM, Perkasa etc are all puppets dancing to the puppet master’s strings so they are non issues.
When I read that the Najib government has claimed the middle ground I just couldn’t help laughing at this ridiculous conclusion. The no guilty verdict is to be credited to public pressure, international publicity on the case, the Pakatan Rakyat leadership’s unwavering support for Anwar throughout the entire ordeal and last but not least Anwar’s inner strength of being able to take all the shit thrown at him. NAJIB claiming middle ground? Ha! Ha! Ha!
Ful of sai now seeking solace in d ARMS of Fa rah, Jan na, n Uncle Pat
Will he get 2 meet NR n RM AGAIN 4 a full scholarship? Still a winner
I hope anwar has learnt his lesson well. Please la don’t stay alone with saiful or any foolsai who can easily fabricate stories to implicate him. This is wasteful to our time and funds. All these times could be spent challenging the regime.
Don’t give these crooks opportunities to implicate you again. If he did, this is anwar’s own doing. this is the second time now they are using the same old tricks. If there are third time, well anwar, you are on your own and deserve to be in jail.
Didn’t the all mighty ego RPK says that anwar will go to jail? What now from him?
Who planted the bombs around the gathering place of Anwar supporters? We know whom they might be, possibly a pro-UMNO supporter out to take revenge and create havoc. Will the police investigate the bombing and take quick action against the bomber and the backer? This is a very dangerous precedent.
///Only about 50 out of the 5,000 pledged supporters came to back the Saiful rally at the FT Mosque near the Jalan Duta court complex today.///–Malaysiakini
Saiful Bukhari was a ‘hero’ to have attracted 5,000 pledged supporters. What do they support Saiful for? His ability to partake in sodomy as the government claimed could be his only qualification. Clearly many are envious of his opportunity to have made use of his asshole to gain a scholarship and to be seen to have helped the prime minister to weed off his political opponent. So the court case did not deter the aspiration to perform such act. Sodomy to the 5,000 would be an accepted activity, if the rewards were good enough. Ironically, the Prime Minister himself had promoted sodomy in his interest to finish off his opponent.
The heat is on.
Guess who is feeling the heat.
They will be no war.
We will simply roll over these hypocrites and big time crooks with our steam rollers..hornbills strap with rockets…and boots made for walking….to walk all over them.
No war…they will curl up like church mouse…timidly..when they see the going is not fovouring them.
These bunch of robbers ad thieves only know how to open their big mouths and use others to do their dirty work.
The day they saw thousands of new young voters at BERSEH 2 …they know they are finished..but keep trying and trying.
They are cowards…employing bodyguard to protect them….day and night.
Sit back and count how many millions per month they are wasting tax payers money.
They don’t care.
They want Malaysia to have Malaysians fighting each other….for like Mahathir said long long ago….”As long as all Malaysians are not happy….we are traveling on the right track.”
But then…a Dictator was speaking with only DAP to be our mouthpiece.
Now there are three.
There is a Malay word for UMNO’s mistrial……kelentong…..
Viewpoint: Anwar acquittal boosts Malaysia’s opposition
By Dr Ooi Kee Beng Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore
@@http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16465164
The sodomy II was no doubt based on a police report made by Saiful Bukhari. Did Saiful tell the police that he was raped, or did he tell the police that he had a sodomy of mutual consent?
Najib said that Saiful Bukhari has a right to justice. a justice to avert what had wronged him. If Saiful got involved in consensual sodomy, then he would be lucky to escape prosecution. Yet Najib the prime minister should not be stupid not to realize the simple logic. For Najib to claim that Saiful had a right to justice, Najib had a basis to believe that Saiful was forced into action against his will. The Attorney General must have found that Saiful could not have been forced even if sodomy had taken place. Instead of charging Saiful for making false police report, the AG chose to selectively charge one of the two so-called partners in sodomy. Thus, sodomy II is selective prosecution which means persecution.
Saiful said that he might appeal. It is interesting that a witness to a criminal case assumes the status of a victim when the police and the AG were certain that his police report was inaccurate.
Sodomy has been an excuse for preventing a change of leaders to government since 1998. It is time that the archaic law be repealed.