Riza deal - is this the kind of justice practiced in Malaysia?

MP SPEAKS | Malaysia had never accepted nor practised the concept of plea- bargain in which a criminal suspect would offer to help the government in return for some concession to his advantage.

Plea-bargaining is practised in the US. Even then it is about information which will give bigger gains to the government. It is not about returning stolen money. Most certainly it is not about returning less than half the money stolen.

The concession given to Riza Shahriz Abdul Aziz is unique. He will source it from the money seized by the Department of Justice (DOJ) of the US.

Now this money would, by agreement with the previous attorney-general (AG), be returned to Malaysia upon proof that it belongs to Malaysia.

So what Riza Aziz is willing to return is less than half of the money which will be seized by the US Department of Justice (DOJ), which the department is going to return to Malaysia.

The bigger chunk of the money allegedly stolen by Riza would be retained by him. In other words, he is going to retain money allegedly stolen by him and be acquitted as well.

All the people involved in making this decision are protesting that they did not make the decision. Obviously, they know that the decision is wrong. The public is disgusted and angry. Is this the kind of justice practiced in Malaysia?

There is a new government in Malaysia. This government is in place because it has the support of people presently being tried for stealing money, for money- laundering and for corruption.

We, in fact, have a government backed by people with criminal backgrounds. We cannot feel sure that justice will be upheld in this country because of the power and influence of these criminals.

Already we are seeing Parliament being silenced. Democracy is dead. But it is okay. Your chosen representative supports the muzzling of the representatives of the people.

The whole world is laughing at Malaysia. The world labelled Malaysia as a kleptocracy (government of thieves) when Najib Abdul Razak was the prime minister.

There was recovery of the respect of the world when the people chose the coalition of opposition parties to form the government. But now the kleptocrats are back because the president of the party which pledged to overthrow Najib has brought him back.

And now that the kleptocrat is back, a practice unheard of in Malaysia has been used and is likely to offer to withdraw charges against other thieves if they would return a fraction of the money they had stolen.

Najib campaigns with the slogan “Why be ashamed of your boss being a thief?” And those Malaysians who now brought him back are truly not ashamed of bringing back an alleged thief to be in the government.

---

DR MAHATHIR MOHAMAD is MP for Langkawi and former prime minister. - Mkini