Accusing Karpal of threatening his 'safety', Zaid lodges police report

Kita president Zaid Ibrahim, who once insisted that a PKR colleague Zulkifli Nordin be sacked for lodging a police report against a fellow Pakatan Rakyat MP Khalid Samad, has himself lodged a police report against DAP chairman Karpal Singh.

Zaid is no longer a PKR member, leaving in the most controversial circumstances to form his own Kita party. Speculation had swirled that he was an Umno mole planted in PKR to destabilize the party and the Pakatan coalition.

Zaid denied the rumours, but seasoned political watchers predicted his Kita party would secure approval from the Registrar of Societies in lightning time. True enough, while Home Minister hishammuddin Hussein refuses to clear the Pakatan's application for formal registration as a coalition, Zaid did not have to queue at all.

Additionally, Prime Minister Najib Razak, president of Zaid's former party Umno, lavished praise on Zaid and Kita.

"This is rich coming from Zaid. But I think the more rope you give, the faster he is liable to hang himself. But frankly, what he is and who he supports is already well known. The question mark is not on Pakatan. It is on him," PKR vice president Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.

"Serious threats"

In typical Umno style - accompanied by a team of supporters - Zaid lodged the report against Karpal at the Kota Baru station on Saturday.

According to Bernama, Zaid said the statement made by Karpal published in several news portals contained “serious threats to my safety”.

Like other former PKR members who also crossed over to support Umno-BN whether directly or indirectly such as N Gobalakrishnan, Zulkifli Nordin, Salehuddin Hashim, Zahrain Hashim and Tan tee Beng, Zaid's political staretgy has been focused on Anwar-bashing.

He recently joined the Umno-led bandwagon calling for the Opposition Leader to give the police his DNA samples although there are grounds to be concerned that Anwar is unlikely to get a fair hearing for the sodomy charges pressed against by Najib.

Anwar has denied the charges and blames Najib and Rosmah of hatching the plot to derail his political comeback.

Last week, Karpal in his capacity as Anwar's defense counsel had warned Zaid that his comments on Anwar could be in contempt of the court.

“The police are required by law to comply with the correct procedures in investigations. Anwar is entitled to a fair trial after a fair investigation. The law guarantees him that. No one, likewise, should and can, deny him that,” said Karpal, who is also the Bukit Gelugor MP.

“There is no question of Anwar refusing to provide DNA samples. In 1998, it is on record that Anwar's DNA profiling was abused by the police. Anwar does not want to give the police another opportunity to repeat what was done in 1998. His fears are understandable and justified.

"As a lawyer, Zaid should know the bounds and parameters of the law of contempt. Zaid should not fish in troubled waters. It is a deadly risk, and the consequences can be equally deadly.”

True colors reinforced

It is unclear which part of Karpal's statement worried Zaid to the extent that he believed it contained “serious threats to my safety” but pundits said possibly the sentence "It is a deadly risk, and the consequences can be equally deadly.”

But rather than scoring a triumph over the much-respected Karpal, Zaid is likely to draw more public ridicule and odium from this latest exchange.

In his previous spat with Karpal, he came off badly and perhaps because of this he may still be upset. Hence, the tit-for-tat.

At the height of Zaid's verbal brawl against Anwar, a fed-up Karpal had revealed he had urged the Opposition Leader not to accept Zaid into PKR because he could not be trusted.

"I had already told Anwar from the very beginning that the man (Zaid) could not be trusted as he quit Umno under a dark cloud and Anwar was taking a big chance by accepting him," Karpal had told a press conference in November last year.

“How can one just want to take over the leadership of a party overnight? And when that was denied, Zaid openly attacked the man who threw him a lifeline in politics. Anwar was trying to guide Zaid to lead gracefully but there is no grace in this man.”

In retaliation, Zaid called Karpal a 'liar' and a 'snake'.

Even from his Umno days, Zaid has been known for his temper and described as a "loose canon" by many of his colleagues. But his choice of words against Karpal - whom to many Malaysians is a living legend - infuriated Pakatan members.

DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang has since revealed that he too - like Karpal - had warned Anwar against Zaid. - Malaysia Chronicle