Of Khairy and Syed Saddiq: What’s the problem with them?
THE social media is now flooded with posters showing the number of cases in the past where the accused were discharged without amounting to an acquittal (DNAA).
Stephen Ng, Focus Malaysia
Although these cases can still proceed once the prosecution obtains more solid evidence, discharge amounting to acquittal (DAA) cases mean the accused will go scot-free.
Whether one likes it or not, a lot of time would have been spent on each court case, so what’s the difference between Zahid’s case and the other cases?
Why did the same critics who came forward recently not attack the then prime ministers (PMs) for each of the cases, for example, that were discharged during Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) era between 2020 and 2022?
There is now no reason for former UMNO Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin (KJ) to add to the ongoing debate by suggesting that freeing jailed former premier Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak move “would help the unity government combat the rising green wave influence”.
Shooting his own foot
KJ is shooting his own foot. In Najib’s case, he is a convict with a jail term of 12 years. His case involves the international community and should Najib seek for clemency, the royal pardon will have to take into account the gravity of the case and its impact on the country’s international reputation.
A royal pardon is not easy to grant unless the person has proven to be of good character. For that reason, it is too premature to even push for Najib’s release.
Even if UMNO were successful in pushing for Najib’s royal pardon, it is always a decision involving a number of parties.
The appeal has to be submitted to the Pardon Board before it goes to the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong for final approval prior to clemency being granted. Often, the process would take many years.
Obviously, KJ is bitter that he was not allowed to contest in his safe seat of Rembau but made to contest in Sungai Buloh where he lost to a debutant MP during last November’s 15th General Election (GE15).
What about Syed Saddiq?
I wrote about it in a Letter to the Editor yesterday (Sept 6) under the heading “Malaysians welcome the new government in Malaysia!”
Although I think he, like KJ is prime minister material, Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman is again playing the same game of punching the DAP for being the lapdog to Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
There is then no difference between the MUDA president and the other political parties that have often made DAP their punching bag.
If DAP were Zahid’s lapdog, why did Syed Saddiq attend the launch of its veteran (now Tan Sri) Lim Kit Siang’s biography “Lim Kit Siang: Malaysian First” on Jan 11, 2022? Is Syed Saddiq then a lapdog of the lapdog to Zahid?
