Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's psychological war of deception?
Self-preservation is the default mode of the self-destructive. Najib is trapped in an existential dilemma. He cannot blame himself for the wreck he has wrought. To do so would severely damage, if not abort, a political career born in genetic entitlement and wafted into that exhilarating but oxygen-thin ozone layer of celebrity so Ex-premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, though his government bore the hallmark of an undemocratic system intertwined with authoritarian rule and survived by the art of false leadership (deception),
We may never know for sure whether the judge found his courage or Umno relented but in any case it does not really matter as the positive ramification for the country is the same. Such an acquittal could never have happened under Mahathir as the prevailing political environment has much to do with it.
Mahathir created a climate of fear. Under his autocratic and iron-fisted rule no judge would have found the courage to acquit Anwar. Neither did Umno need to pander to public opinion. In 1999 Mahathir had Anwar convicted under the most transparent show trial and then went on to obtain two-thirds majority in the general election held the same year.
In a functioning democracy no ruling regime could have survived what Mahathir did in Sodomy I. It goes without saying that we did not have a functioning democracy under Mahathir. Anwar’s acquittal means that we have moved away from the Mahathirean era to a somewhat better democracy. Our democracy may still be flawed but it is a few notches better than a decade plus ago.
This change has come about because Umno now has a tangible fear of losing power unlike pre-2008 when it revelled in a one party rule with no creditable challenge. This is due to a strong and united opposition after the landmark 2008 general election. The opposition may not be in power but they have still managed to change Umno’s behaviour.
The 86-year-old Mahathir particularly hated Daim Zainuddin for taking advantage of him being an economic fool. It was Daim who was accused of stealing all the money - enriching himself when controlling all the UMNO assets right under Mahathir’s nose. But all that would be water under the bridge for Mahathir if he succeeds in making his son Mukhriz as the Malaysian Prime Minister within his life time.
Actually, if possible, Mahathir would still want to be the prime minister until now. But he had no choice because he had made a blunder on Malaysia’s economy during the 1997-1998 economic crisis, using up all the funds and resources that Malaysia had to bail out his cronies and in particular his son’s shipping company until the country did not have enough money and the UMNO-BN government had to continue borrowing. Total national debt now stands at a whopping RM445 billion to date.
TAXIDRIVER’S THOTS A truly suspicious case feedom is the recognition that no single person, no single authority or government has a monopoly on the truth, but that every individual life is infinitely precious, that every one of us put in this world has been put there for a reason and has something … Read more ADEI PARIAH TULUKAN MAHATHIR DON’T FUCK AROUND ENOUGH OF SODOMIZING THE MALAYS
Mahathir should know the financial crisis that swept over Malaysia was of his own making but he was in a state of denial and blamed it on George Soros. Mahathir had to let Badawi undertake the impossible task of correcting the economy and ultimately shoulder the blame both for the mismanagement of the economy and the poor performance of UMNO at the ballot boxes.
In the 1999 general elections, there was an unprecedented swing in the Malay votes against Umno due to Mahathir's sacking of his deputy Anwar Ibrahim, who had been the darling of the Malay community. Mahathir knew if he continued to helm UMNO, the party would ratchet up another miserable record in the next general election, which eventually was won by a landslide by Badawi in 2004.
But at that time of his resignation in 2003, the wily Mahathir tried to distance himself from these two facts - his error of judgment over the economy in 1997-98 and the subsequent loss of Malay support due to his jailing Anwar on trumped-up sodomy charges.
NAJIB CHARGE MAHATHIR FOR SAYING “HOW DARE YOU RAID MY SENIOR’S OFFICER’S OFFICE?”
Datuk Seri Najib Razak has called rival Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s acquittal over a sodomy charge today an exoneration for the political conspiracy claims hurled at the Barisan Nasional government. “Today’s verdict shows once again that, despite what many have claimed, the Malaysian judiciary is an independent institution where neither politics nor politicians have any … Read more NAJIB CHARGE MAHATHIR FOR SAYING “HOW DARE YOU RAID MY SENIOR’S OFFICER’S OFFICE?”
- Game's up Gani, time to go
- Martin Jalleh | 4:00PM Oct 21, 0
- I refer to the Malaysiakini report AG's meddling 'confirmed' in Anwar trials.
Lady Justice haunts and hounds Bolehland’s Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail over his ‘hidden hand’ in Anwar Ibrahim’s trials 10 years ago. The skeletons in his cupboard hang out. He can no longer hide behind the skirt of the executive. The naked truth has caught up with him.
The latest expose on the AG having abused his power to fabricate evidence in Anwar’s trials was made by Lim Kit Siang in parliament. The veteran politician likened Gani to a ‘criminal’ and demanded that he ‘resign immediately’.
Quoting unnamed sources, Kit Siang said that he understands that Solicitor-General Idrus Harun had carried out an investigation into the claims (in a police report filed by Anwar) in July and ‘has concluded that the AG had indeed abused his power to fabricate evidence’ against Anwar.
Several days before Kit Siang’s revelation, the public got to hear the startling claims by Mat Zain Ibrahim, a retired senior police officer who probed the infamous ‘black eye’ incident involving Anwar in 1998, on Gani having allegedly tampered with evidence in the case.
In a set of court documents Mat Zain Ibrahim implied that the actions of Gani, then a senior deputy public prosecutor, had delayed the investigation process and concealed facts from the then AG, the late Mohtar Abdullah.
Mat Zain’s claims were first made public during Anwar’s current sodomy trial in the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court. Anwar’s lawyer Sulaiman Abdullah had read out the document in court during submissions on why Gani should not be involved in any aspect of the sodomy case.
(So serious were Mat Zain’s allegations that Sessions judge SM Komathy Suppiah ruled that the details, which were read out in court, were admissible in the ongoing proceedings of Anwar's sodomy trial. She also lifted an initial gag order that prevented the media from publishing the details.)
The above allegations are very ‘consistent’ with the serious allegations of prosecutorial impropriety and the obstruction of justice, made against Gani Patail in the past, particularly during Anwar's corruption case and the related Zainur Zakaria contempt case.
Zainur was sentenced to three months' jail by High Court judge Augustine Paul on Nov 30, 1998 for contempt of court when he made an application on Anwar's behalf to stop Gani and Azahar Mohamad (then senior prosecutors) from further prosecuting in Anwar's corruption case.
Anwar’s application was based on a statutory declaration made by lawyer Manjeet Singh Dhillon and a letter he wrote to the then AG accusing Gani and Azahar of threatening his client, S Nallakaruppan, and asking the latter to fabricate evidence against Anwar.
Manjit did not mince his words: ‘I was shocked that Dato Gani even had the gall to make such a suggestion to me. He obviously does not know me. I do not approve of such extraction of evidence against anyone, not even, or should I say least of all, a beggar picked up off the streets.
‘A man's life, or for that matter even his freedom, is not a tool for prosecution agencies to use as a bargaining chip. No jurisprudential system will condone such an act.
‘It is blackmail and extortion of the highest culpability and my greatest disappointment is that a once independent agency that I worked with some 25 years ago and of which I have such satisfying memories has descended to such levels in the creation and collection of evidence.
‘To use the death threat as a means to the extortion of evidence that is otherwise not there (why else make such a demand?) It is unforgivable and surely must in itself be a crime, leave alone a sin, of the greatest magnitude. Whether his means justify the end that he seeks are matters that Dato Gani will have to wrestle with within his own conscience.’
The federal court that heard the Zainur Zakaria (contempt) case freed Zainur from the contempt of court conviction. Presiding Justice Steve Shim said Gani should have given his personal explanation on the allegation that he had threatened Nallakaruppan to fabricate evidence against Anwar.
(The federal court was appalled by Augustine Paul’s conduct. They said it ‘gave the picture that he was behaving as though he was acting as counsel for the two prosecutors in the motion’. A pall had then hung over the judiciary and country).
There was also the serious allegation by Anwar in his police report in July 1999 that the late Mokhtar Abdullah and Gani had ‘subverted the cause of justice and violated the law’ by not prosecuting then nternational Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz for corruption.
Anwar had attached a document signed by Gani (which was handed to Anwar when he was the deputy prime minister by the then AG) stipulating that a prima facie case had been made against Rafidah Aziz on five counts of corruption under Section 2(2),Ordinance 22, 1970.
In spite of the alleged ‘blackmailing and extortion of the highest culpability’ and the alleged interference of justice in shielding Rafidah Aziz, Gani was rewarded for allowing himself to be used and his position to be abused.
Commenting on Gani’s promotion to AG in 2001, Steven Gan of Malaysiakini would write: ‘Abdul Gani Patail is today tapped as Malaysia ’s top legal officer. The legal fraternity, and the rest of the country, cannot but be flabbergasted by this astounding appointment.
‘This is, after all, the man - who as chief prosecutor in former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim’s trials - was unable to get the dates of the alleged sodomy acts right, not once but twice.
‘This is the man who was responsible for parading the infamous semen-stained mattress during the court hearings.
‘More importantly, this is the man which the federal court said should provide ‘some answers to the allegations on the fabrication of evidence’ when it threw out the Zainur Zakaria’s contempt of court case.’
Karpal Singh had this to say then: ‘In the public's interest, it is vital that the AG, who is the highest legal officer in the country, be like 'Caesar's wife', above suspicion’. Alas, no office has been viewed with more suspicion by the public than the AG’s Chambers!
De facto law minister Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz has denied Kit Siang’s claims, stating that an investigation on the matter was still underway. He added that it was the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) and not the solicitor general who was probing the matter.
What the de facto law minister says no longer matters to most Malaysians. Public perception of the office of the AG continues to deteriorate from suspicion and skepticism to scorn. With each added glaring revelation and allegation, Gani gains more contempt from the court of public opinion.
The recent claim by the ex-deputy president of the Sabah Progressive Party (Sapp) Raymond Tan that he had been instrumental in stopping the prime minister from ordering the ACA’s arrest of party president Yong Teck Lee, makes Nazri’s implicit insistence that the ACA will be independent, very laughable and ludicrous.
Abdul Gani Patail can no longer be trusted to honour his oath of office. He should go. But in Bolehland only the courageous (like Zaid Ibrahim) who hold on to their principles are willing to let go of a high position.
Will Gani have the guts to give up and to salvage whatever honour he has left? Highly improbable.
Perhaps the PM, who, with the invaluable help of Umno recently, will be riding off into the sunset quite soon, could assist the attorney-general onto his high horse?
- Datuk Mat Zain Ibrahim today insisted Datuk Seri Najib Razak prove his impartiality by calling for a royal inquiry on Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail over the Attorney-General’s alleged mishandling of several high profile cases.
According to Mat Zain, the prime minister should make formal representation to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on the setting up of a tribunal to examine Abdul Gani’s actions.
“It would be the first step forward for PM Najib to restore the country’s criminal justice system which has been tainted for a long time. The people would accept no less than this,” the former Kuala Lumpur CID chief said today in a letter to Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar.
Mat Zain said that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s acquittal on Monday did not prove the Najib administration had not interfered in the case or the judiciary’s independence.
“Should the prosecution produce false facts and testimonies, the judge would then make his decision based on the false facts and testimonies,” he said.
He pointed out that it was the A-G who holds the power to initiate, proceed or halt any criminal proceeding while a judge’s duty was merely to judge based on information produced in court.
Mat Zain added that every court case had its own merits and differed from each other, even if they were presided over by the same judge.
“Therefore, the executive cannot beat its chest to say that judge Mohd Zabidin’s ‘not guilty’ verdict on Anwar is proof that the judiciary is impartial and free from influence or interference from the executive,” he added.
Mat Zain proceeded to list examples of high-profile cases since 1998, in which he alleged “certain parties” were believed to have referred to the executive body to obtain a decision.
Among others, Mat Zain cited the corruption and statutory rape case of former Malacca chief minister Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Thamby Chik, and the corruption cases involving former minister Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz, former MAS chairman Tan Sri Tajuddin Ramli and former Pelabuhan Klang assemblyman Datuk Zakariah Md Deros.
He also referred to recent scandals surrounding Minister Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom on his alleged abuse of zakat funds and Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abd Jalil on the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) controversy.
“What I would like to emphasise and confirm here is that every case example above has Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail’s touch on it,” said Mat Zain.
As such, he said, this would be a good time for Najib to prove his determination and sincerity and his “people first” promise by taking appropriate action against the country’s top lawyer.
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