I am referring to the statement by Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein that he has left it to Wisma Putra on the Phillipine’s government request of an extension on the deportation of the Lahad Datu intruders.This gives Foreign Minister Anifah Aman an absolute authority to decide on the matter.
I am not questioning the noble and sincere intention of any party to have this standoff brought to an immediate end and free of bloodshed as long as they are done within the framework of our laws.
Neither would I at this juncture question the wisdom of the prime minister to hand over authority to Anifah Aman (left), who hails from Sabah,who happens to be a younger brother to Musa Aman, the Sabah CM and who in turn is related to Manuel Amalilio, to decide on this crucial matter.
What is important, is for Anifah to be advised by none other than the attorney-general that he has no right or power whatsoever to indemnify any one of the armed intruders or the other members of the group from each of their criminal culpabilities.
Anifah must realise that limitation. It is not like he is given a free hand to make his own decision anyway he likes or he is a law unto himself.
Even the prime minister or the attorney-general themselves have no power to strike a deal with anyone facing criminal charges or being caught in a sticky political situation. This has been explained by the de facto law minister, Nazri Aziz in Parliament on March 30, 2011, in answer to a question on this issue.
Regardless of their status, ethnicity, ideology or purpose, the Sulu intruders have committed serious criminal acts ranging from attempting or waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the Yang di-Pertua Negeri, besides serious violations of the Penal Code, Firearms Act, Immigration Act, etcetera, etcetera.
I beg to differ with Home Minister Hishammuddin when he says that the Lahad Datu standoff is different from several previous incidents such as those involving Al-Maunah, Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiah Malaysia.
Even a lay person knows that killing a person by strangulation, or by stabbing or by blowing that person into bits using explosives, is still murder as defined in the Penal Code and the punishment is still death by hanging, when the killer is found guilty regardless of the motive of the murder or how it was done.
The difference here is only in the manner the murder was executed.The end result is the same, that a person is dead.
A standoff is still a standoff
A standoff is still a standoff whether it is an Al-Maunah standoff or a Lahad Datu standoff. It cannot be dealth with differently. The weapons smuggled in by the Sulu invaders are no less lethal than the weapons stolen from the 304 army camp by the Al-Maunah group.
The Al-Maunah group’s members are no less Muslims than the Sulu invaders if religion is to be considered.
If the Al-Maunah gang members who surrendered were charged with waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and a few of them hanged, so must the same charges be preferred against the Sulu intruders when they surrender.
As such Anifah must be advised that he has no powers to promise or agree with the Phillipines government to deport all those intruders whether individually armed or not, without all of them being brought to face the full brunt of our laws, first.
With due respect to Anifah, it is not within his purview to decide whether an act is criminal in nature or otherwise or whether the intruders should be charged in court or just let them go scot-free. Neither it is Hishammuddin’s.
In the event Anifah is adamant in conceding to the Phillipines a “blanket deportation” of all the armed intruders to their homeland with the concurrence of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, for any reasons whatsoever, without going through the due process of our laws and constitution, then not only both of them have made a landmark decision arbitrarily but they will be setting a very dangerous and vicious precedent.
That decision would effectively implies that armed invasion or incursion or anything of that sort into any part of our country whether for temporary or permanent occupation, are no longer prohibited but rather most welcome. Smuggling of any types of weapons and firearms into the country are no longer considered as crimes.
Deporting the Sulu invaders lock stock and barrel and exempting them from criminal prosecution is as good as surrendering our sovereignty.
Our beautiful Malaysia can then be proudly proclaimed to have been transformed into a lame duck nation.
I am not questioning the noble and sincere intention of any party to have this standoff brought to an immediate end and free of bloodshed as long as they are done within the framework of our laws.
Neither would I at this juncture question the wisdom of the prime minister to hand over authority to Anifah Aman (left), who hails from Sabah,who happens to be a younger brother to Musa Aman, the Sabah CM and who in turn is related to Manuel Amalilio, to decide on this crucial matter.What is important, is for Anifah to be advised by none other than the attorney-general that he has no right or power whatsoever to indemnify any one of the armed intruders or the other members of the group from each of their criminal culpabilities.
Anifah must realise that limitation. It is not like he is given a free hand to make his own decision anyway he likes or he is a law unto himself.
Even the prime minister or the attorney-general themselves have no power to strike a deal with anyone facing criminal charges or being caught in a sticky political situation. This has been explained by the de facto law minister, Nazri Aziz in Parliament on March 30, 2011, in answer to a question on this issue.
Regardless of their status, ethnicity, ideology or purpose, the Sulu intruders have committed serious criminal acts ranging from attempting or waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the Yang di-Pertua Negeri, besides serious violations of the Penal Code, Firearms Act, Immigration Act, etcetera, etcetera.
I beg to differ with Home Minister Hishammuddin when he says that the Lahad Datu standoff is different from several previous incidents such as those involving Al-Maunah, Abu Sayyaf and Jemaah Islamiah Malaysia.
Even a lay person knows that killing a person by strangulation, or by stabbing or by blowing that person into bits using explosives, is still murder as defined in the Penal Code and the punishment is still death by hanging, when the killer is found guilty regardless of the motive of the murder or how it was done.
The difference here is only in the manner the murder was executed.The end result is the same, that a person is dead.
A standoff is still a standoff
A standoff is still a standoff whether it is an Al-Maunah standoff or a Lahad Datu standoff. It cannot be dealth with differently. The weapons smuggled in by the Sulu invaders are no less lethal than the weapons stolen from the 304 army camp by the Al-Maunah group.
The Al-Maunah group’s members are no less Muslims than the Sulu invaders if religion is to be considered.
If the Al-Maunah gang members who surrendered were charged with waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and a few of them hanged, so must the same charges be preferred against the Sulu intruders when they surrender.
As such Anifah must be advised that he has no powers to promise or agree with the Phillipines government to deport all those intruders whether individually armed or not, without all of them being brought to face the full brunt of our laws, first.
With due respect to Anifah, it is not within his purview to decide whether an act is criminal in nature or otherwise or whether the intruders should be charged in court or just let them go scot-free. Neither it is Hishammuddin’s.
In the event Anifah is adamant in conceding to the Phillipines a “blanket deportation” of all the armed intruders to their homeland with the concurrence of Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, for any reasons whatsoever, without going through the due process of our laws and constitution, then not only both of them have made a landmark decision arbitrarily but they will be setting a very dangerous and vicious precedent.That decision would effectively implies that armed invasion or incursion or anything of that sort into any part of our country whether for temporary or permanent occupation, are no longer prohibited but rather most welcome. Smuggling of any types of weapons and firearms into the country are no longer considered as crimes.
Deporting the Sulu invaders lock stock and barrel and exempting them from criminal prosecution is as good as surrendering our sovereignty.
Our beautiful Malaysia can then be proudly proclaimed to have been transformed into a lame duck nation.
MAT ZAIN IBRAHIM is former chief of the Criminal Investigation Department, Kuala Lumpur Police Contingent.
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