HORNBILL UNLEASHED
Nawawi Mohamad
To an increasing number of Malaysians, it looks like UMNO and its president, Prime Minister Najib Razak, can never be trusted. Firstly, they lost their integrity by plundering the wealth of the country and ‘turning’ Malaysia and almost everything in it into their own ‘property’, even if most of the loot is held by trusted cronies.
Najib however is not only part of UMNO, he has been accused of being a pathological liar. And the odd thing is, he doesn’t care who knows it, he doesn’t feel shy to spout grandiose verbose today and the very next day be caught behaving like a banana republic dictator. Thick-skinned or not, this was exactly what happened in the recent decision by his minion, the Attorney General, to appeal the acquittal of Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim from sodomy charges.
One is confident and secure and the other is fully of vanity and self-delusions
By contrast, Anwar’s conduct was consistent. From the start, he acknowledged the right of the AG to appeal and when they did, Anwar did not cry foul, although almost the whole country was. The latest from the Permatang Pauh MP is that the appeal will not hurt the Pakatan Rakyat’s quest to wrest the federal government from Najib’s UMNO party. Such a statement is the mark of a man who is secure in himself and his ability. Anwar does not flip-flop!
We all know that the Muslim clerics, university professors, bankers, business people, the police, the military, the judiciary, the list goes on, are most unscrupulously being used by the BN. Even judges can be bought as the Lingam tape incident has indicated. In the Sodomy II trial, Najib and UMNO can deny till the cows come home but the majority of Malaysians and the rest of the world believes the Judge’s decision will be in line with what Najib wishes.
Therefore it is not surprising that after the Judge announces a not guilty verdict, pointing to flawed fundamental evidence, the Attorney General can still appeal it – taking its cue from former premier Mahathir Mohamad, who publicly declared there was nothing wrong for the government to question the verdict. Thus, it is clear from the sequence of events, Anwar was not supposed to be set free.
Is Najib the donkey leading the cart or is he the cart being led by the donkey Umno
Mahathir and the UMNO hardliners are bent on seeing Anwar in jail as this would be in their best interests as it would allow them to remain in power, while weakening the opposition tremendously. Najib is pretending that the decision to appeal has got nothing to do with him and since he has not shown much conscience in the case, he can say this without the slightest twitch on his face – as if he is speaking the Gospel truth.
But who would believe what he says anymore. He may wish for Sodomy II to draw to a sorry end once and for all, but by sitting pretty and allowing Mahathir and gang to disgrace the nation by appealing, he is not performing his duty as prime minister at all. It is sad indeed for Malaysia to have such a weak leader. He doesn’t control his party, but his party controls him.
World believes Anwar, not Najib
Unfortunately, the world reaction to the acquittal decision, where the news was front-paged in all the major newspapers around the globe shows not only Malaysians but the international community believes Anwar was framed by Najib and UMNO!
The manner in which Anwar was hailed and feted was indeed a clear sign that foreign governments believed he was the best leader to lead Malayisa out of its current doldrums.
Meanwhile, there is really not much the opposition can do to help Anwar as the court is clearly skewed in BN’s favor. But the good news is that despite the disappointment of the acquittal’s appeal, it could not overshadow the RM250 million Shahrizat Jaili-NFC debacle.This shows that Malaysians have already made up their minds who they believe in and want for their prime minister. And it is clearly not Najib.
More than ever, hope is placed in Anwar to weed out endemic corruption in the country and bring to book the wrong-doers who have cheated and embezzled at least RM888 billion in illicit funds from the country from 2000 to 2009.
