Expressed and implied

There are those who argue that Anwar need not honour the contract even it is binding because the elections were not clean. But then when Anwar requested to meet Najib and when he agreed to the terms of the agreement he knew that the elections were not going to be clean. He knew the elections have never been clean. He knew this even when he joined Umno in 1982 and won the elections many times in a dirty election.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Jusuf must apologise to Anwar

(FMT) - DAP chairman Karpal Singh has slammed an ex-Indonesian leader for revealing details of a private meeting between Anwar Ibrahim and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

Karpal Singh wants former Indonesia vice-president Jusuf Kalla to publicly express regret and apologise to Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim for an alleged breach of confidentiality.

Karpal slammed Jusuf Kalla for publicly revealing details of a private meeting between him, Anwar and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak held in Jakarta in March this year.

He said Jusuf Kalla should not have revealed confidential details to the press on what transpired during the meeting, adding that it did not speak well of the former vice-president.

He expressed regret that a person of such high public position like Jusuf had such low dignity to accuse Anwar of receiving foreign aid.

“What was discussed ought to have remained confidential. Jusuf Kalla obviously has his own agenda. It’s obvious that Anwar should not have trusted him.”

“Jusuf Kalla should express regret for his statement and apologise to Anwar,” insisted Karpal, the DAP national chairman.

He acknowledged that Jusuf’s revelations that Anwar had received foreign funds for the “Blackout 505” rallies would affect public confidence in Pakatan Rakyat.

Jusuf Kalla had reportedly stated that Anwar received funds from a giant company in Philippines, Turkey, USA, Thailand and China.

Jusuf also ridiculed Anwar’s hopeless aspiration to become the country’s Prime Minister despite Pakatan Rakyat only having 89 parliamentary seats against Barisan Nasional’s 133.

He accused Anwar of breaching a gentleman agreement to accept the 13th General Election results by making all sorts of electoral fraud claims.

Foreign funding

Jusuf had reportedly said that Anwar’s 505 rallies would only benefit enemies of Malays and Islam.

“I had asked Anwar if he can control the DAP and he kept quiet.”

“It’s clear that Anwar had problems controlling MPs from other parties,” Jusuf was quoted as saying.

Karpal rebuked Jusuf Kalla for issuing statements with racial innuendoes by publicly claiming that the 505 rallies only benefited enemies of Islam and Malays.

He said Jusuf’s revelation would tarnish Anwar’s image and subsequently undermine Pakatan’s credibility.

“It can hurt Pakatan Rakyat,” Karpal told a press conference in his Bukit Gelugor parliamentary constituency here today.

He said the DAP had accepted Anwar as undisputed leader to lead Pakatan to victory in the next general election

He said one cannot deny Anwar’s popularity among Malaysia masses based on Pakatan’s 51% popular votes gained during the recent polls.

Quoting Jusuf, Karpal said Anwar would have won if the GE13 was like the Indonesian direct presidential election, which was based on popular votes.

But, he said under Malaysian’s first-pass-the-pole system, the party that won the most number of legislature seats would earn the right to form the government.

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Well, another of my so-called ‘lies’ has been proven true my none other than Opposition Supremo Karpal Singh himself.

It seems Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim and Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak did have a secret meeting in Jakarta earlier this year after all.

And it seems it was Anwar Ibrahim who requested the meeting (because he thought Pakatan Rakyat was going to win the general election and he was worried that Najib would not hand over power).

And it seems the purpose of the meeting was to get BOTH sides to agree to respect the results of the recent general election on 5th May 2013.

Anwar does not deny all this. The only thing that Anwar has to say about the matter is that although all this did happen, Najib did not sign the contract document. Hence, since Najib did not sign the contract document, this means the contract is null and void and becomes rescinded.

Actually, contracts can be both expressed and implied. For example, if you promise to marry a girl if she sleeps with you, and she does sleep with you, then that is a binding contract even if you did not sign anything. Her action of sleeping with you (based on the promise of marriage) plus your action of accepting her body forms that contract. And if you do not marry her then she can actually sue you for breach of contract and would most likely win her case and receive damages.

Say I was to sell my car and you agree to buy it and you pay me for my car. That is a contract. If I fail to deliver my car you can sue me for ‘specific performance’ even though we do not have any signed Sales and Purchase Agreement. The fact that I accepted your money forms the contract.

Of course, ‘verbal’ contracts are harder to prove in court than written contracts. But that does not mean you are safe even if our contract was merely a verbal contract. Your actions can be interpreted as there being a contract between us plus that you agreed to the terms of that ‘contract’.

Hence, was there a contract between Anwar and Najib even though only Anwar signed the contract document and Najib did not (as Anwar says)? I would say yes if Najib and Anwar both agreed to the terms of the contract notwithstanding whether it were in ‘black-and-white’ or merely by word of mouth.

There are those who argue that Anwar need not honour the contract even if it is binding because the elections were not clean. But then when Anwar requested to meet Najib and when he agreed to the terms of the agreement he knew that the elections were not going to be clean. He knew the elections have never been clean. He knew this even when he joined Umno in 1982 and won the elections many times in a dirty election.

So what is it that happened on 5th May 2013 that never happened in the 12 general elections before that? Anwar knew that he would need to win the recent general election based on a dirty election and yet he agreed to enter into an agreement with Najib to respect the results of the election. And what if Najib had signed the contract document? Would Anwar now keep quiet or would he still be screaming?

What if Pakatan Rakyat had won the election? Would Anwar still insist that Najib honour the terms of the agreement and respect the result of the election since the election was dirty (which he knew it would be)? Or would Anwar say since the election was dirty then Najib need not honour the terms of the agreement and respect the result of the election?

Karpal’s beef is regarding Jusuf Kalla spilling the beans and revealing the secret pact that Anwar made with Najib. That is all. Hence if Jusuf Kalla had said nothing then it would be a non-issue. I, however, feel that there are still issues to be discussed. And the main issue is did Anwar not know that the elections were not going to be clean when he requested to meet Najib and entered into an agreement with Najib to honour the terms of the agreement and respect the result of the election?