Day: February 12, 2015

The Malay Mail Online
FEBRUARY 12, 2015

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 12 — In an opinion piece today, financial daily Wall Street Journal (WSJ) criticised the Federal Court’s decision to convict Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for sodomy, calling it a “Pyrrhic victory” for ruling party Umno.

In its bid to stop Anwar from becoming a prime minister, WSJ said Umno had damaged Malaysia’s reputation and the fabric of society, both of which will return to haunt the ruling party in the next general election.

“Umno’s decades-long vendetta against Mr Anwar has brought discredit on Malaysia’s government and political culture,” said the article titled “Malaysia’s Anwar Shame”.

“It is likely to accelerate the ruling party’s loss of support from a maturing population repulsed by such dirty tricks. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s failure to call an end to this farce is a stain on his legacy.”

According to WSJ, Umno had resorted to a trumped-up charge against Anwar recycled from the playbook of former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, rather than fight Anwar “fairly”. Continue reading “Umno will regret its Anwar ‘vendetta’ in GE14, says WSJ”

by V. Anbalagan
The Malaysian Insider
12 February 2015

No amount of affirmation by Putrajaya will boost the judiciary’s image as an independent body, lawyers said, pointing out that such confidence in the institution of justice must come from the public and litigants.

The lawyers, who were commenting on the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) swift statement in response to opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s guilty verdict on Tuesday, said it was unusual and unnecessary.

More so when the statement tried to defend the judiciary by saying that it is independent and that the judges “had reached their verdict only after considering the evidence in a balanced and objective manner.”

Lawyer Amer Hamzah Arshad said there was no necessity for the PMO to do so although Anwar’s appeal is considered a high profile case that had attracted international attention. Continue reading “PMO has no business declaring judiciary as independent, say lawyers”

By Martin Jalleh

In the past two days, the predominant feeling of ordinary Malaysians of reason, common sense and good will is one of pain and shame at the injustice and outrage of the spectacle of a nationalist and patriot like Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who had devoted 47 years of his life to the struggle for freedom, justice, human dignity and national unity, should be sentenced to a five-year jail term, returning to prison for a third incarceration in his life.

Ask Malaysians who are the top political leaders, past and present, they think should be languishing in jail for five years, many different names would be mentioned, but Anwar’s name will not be among them.

Anwar is now 67 years old. After the five-year jail sentence, he will be disqualified from standing for any elective office for another five years, knocking him out of the electoral arena till he is 77 years old.

This is cruel, heartless, repressive and oppressive, and only People’s Power can cut short Anwar’s present travail if the UMNO/BN federal government can be toppled in the 14th General Elections in three years’ time.

Malaysians nationwide should transform their pain and sorrow into strength and energy to knock out the Umno/BN Federal Government in the 14th General Elections, as this seems to be the only way to save Anwar from the decade of darkness of his third incarceration and disenfranchisement of his civil rights to vote and to stand for elections. Continue reading “Call for an eight-year commitment by three PR component parties to maintain the two principles which had been the recipe for PR success in its first six years – PR common policy framework and the operational principle of consensus”

Former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad has declared that I am not a communist but he called me an “authoritarian”.

I do not know whether I should thank Mahathir for clearing me of the “communist” charge which is still hurled against me by UMNO cybertroopers together with other lies and falsehoods like being the cause of May 13 race riots in 1969.

Mahathir wants probably to clear his name for he would look extremely foolish to have allowed a “communist” to operate freely in Parliament, having been Prime Minister for 22 years and Home Minister for nearly 15 years.

If I had been a “communist”, then Mahathir would be a failure as a Prime Minister and Home Minister not to know it.

I am intrigued by his accusation that I am an “authoritarian” and wants my son, Guan Eng, to replace me.

I would not accuse Mahathir of senility although he is capable of pretending to be senile and even pretend to suffer from amnesia, which was quite a show that he staged during his appearance at the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Lingam Videotapes, when he suffered from so many lapses of amnesia which had not been repeated.
Continue reading “Dr. M – you started all the rot in Hamlet in your 22 years as Prime Minister”

The credibility, independence and professionalism of the Malaysian judiciary was gravely sullied by the extraordinary Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) statement on Feb. 10 defending the Federal Court decision on the Anwar Ibrahim case even before the completion of the Federal Court judicial process.

Yesterday, the government came out in defence of the PMO’s lightning quick response to the Anwar Ibrahim judgment by the Federal Court, saying it is normal procedure to prepare statements in advance.

A government spokesperson, in an email communique, to Malaysiakini said:

“It’s clear that the politicians, lawyers, communications teams and journalists involved with this case prepared text for guilty and not guilty verdicts.

“Similarly, the government prepared a statement in advance for either outcome. This is entirely standard professional practice, especially in a case that involves public interest.

“To suggest otherwise is intentionally misleading.”

Who is the Najib government bluffing?

Here are 13 Questions for Najib to answer to salvage the credibility, independence and professionalism of Malaysian judiciary which had been gravely sullied by the extraordinary PMO statement on Feb 10 defending the Federal Court decision on Anwar case even before the completion of the judicial process. Continue reading “Thirteen Questions for Najib to answer to salvage the credibility, independence and professionalism of Malaysian judiciary”

By Syerleena Abdul Rashid
Malaysiakini
Feb 10, 2015

With all due respect, I am not here to tell you how to do your job nor am I here to criticise you – I am a firm believer that everyone is entitled to their own opinions but one must be made aware of the consequences it may bring. There is an old Arab proverb which states “Arrogance diminishes wisdom”, and as a leader much like yourself, you must be made fully accountable for the things you said and the people whom you may hurt in the process.

But politics aside, I write this not as a political opponent – not today, but only as a mere Malaysian who has seen how demoralised and worn out most Malaysians have become because of the hatred, fear and lies that seem to perpetuate our country.

It fills me with great sadness that our beloved country is slowly but surely heading down a path our founding fathers fought hard against. When they created the federation, they had a vision where Malaysians could live together in harmony and prosper together.

And here we are in 2015, just five years shy from Wawasan 2020. Can we safely say that we can truly become a developed nation by then? Are we comfortable with stripping away our ethnicity in order to achieve the glorious concept of a Bangsa Malaysia? Are we at ease with each other’s religious differences and are we able to prevent any inkling of religious supremacy? Continue reading “An open letter to Ismail Sabri”

By Hafiz Yatim
Malaysiakini
Feb 11, 2015

With controversy still simmering over yesterday’s Federal Court verdict throwing Anwar Ibrahim into jail, an independent observer has described the judgement as ‘superficial, failing to adequately deal with key issues brought up by the defence team’.

Inter-Parliamentary Union observer and Queen’s Counsel Mark Trowell pointed out that Chief Justice Arifin Zakaria’s findings on the DNA material effectively ignored the testimony of Professor Dr David Wells and Dr Brian McDonald both who raised serious doubts as to the integrity of victim Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan’s DNA samples.

“It was not sufficient to brush their opinions aside by saying neither (Wells or McDonald) had recently carried out DNA extraction. That is a job to be performed by a laboratory technician. They are both senior scientists sufficiently skilled and experienced in giving an opinion about the DNA extraction process performed by the government chemists and the adequacy of their testing.

“They weren’t disadvantaged by not actually performing the extraction themselves (which is a criticism made by the CJ) because they heard the testimony of the government chemists and were able to give their free expert opinion on it. That is what experts do,” he said.

Trowell – who is also an observer for Lawasia and the Australian Law Council – said federal court’s finding that the chain of custody for the samples was not broken by the conduct of the investigation officer DSP Jude Blacious Pereira was inconsistent with the facts and the law. Continue reading “QC’s verdict: Apex court erred in jailing Anwar”