The politician’s daughter versus the single mother in Malaysia’s Law of the Jungle. Politicians (and their children) make a mockery of the law, but you & I are condemned. This is NOT the new Malaysia we want our children to inherit.

• By Mariam Mokhtar

The single mother versus the Umno-Baru warlord’s daughter

On 5 May, former deputy prime minister, Zahid Hamidi’s daughter, Nurul Hidayah, and her husband, Saiful, were both fined RM800 for flouting the strict rules of the Movement Control Order (MCO). 

Photos of Nurul and Saiful, meeting the Deputy Environment Minister, Ahmad Masrizal Muhammad, and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri, were uploaded on her Instagram account on 20 April.

Only a proud and arrogant individual would make public the fact that she is able to visit ministers despite the MCO.

She probably believes that the law does not apply to her. She challenged the public, to  lodge a police report if they were displeased with her actions.

As expected the public reacted with outrage. A few days earlier, they expressed their anger when other Perikatan Nasional (PN) politicians visited areas outside their constituencies in open defiance of the law. They endangered not just their health, but also the health of others whom they mingled with. They made a mockery of the law.

Incredibly, the Senior Minister, Ismail Sabri Yaakob denied that  Deputy Health Minister, Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali and Perak state executive councillor, Razman Zakaria, had breached the MCO. He claimed that they had merely breached the standard operating procedure (SOP) governing movements.

Questions and more questions

1. Why did Sabri deny double standards in the government’s handling of the case?
2. Why should we be content with allowing our politicians and their family members to behave in an arrogant manner and permit them to think the law does not apply to them?
3. Would Nurul and the other politicians who breached the MCO rules, have been investigated if the public had not vented their fury on social media?
4. Why were members of the press barred from the court room and therefore were unable to report on the court proceedings for Nurul and Saiful’s court appearance?
5. Why did the magistrate allow this to happen? This is another failure of the judicial system under Muhyiddin.
6. Why did the court deny the press had been barred and why did they claim they were not aware of the presence of the press? Umno-Baru’s aggressive rule is back!
7. Politicians and politically well connected people appear to get only a fine, and escape a jail sentence.
   
   Shouldn’t they should be setting an example and therefore, should receive the most severe of punishments?
8. The former Umno-Baru minister, Adnan Mansor, once said that RM2 million was like pocket money to him. Zahid, Nurul’s father is on trial for the misappropriation of RM31 million funds belonging to a charity. It was disclosed that he and his wife, paid over RM72,000 for road tax per year, for a fleet of luxury cars and superbikes. This is more that a lifetime’s earnings  for a simple farmer.
   
   Why do you think the rakyat is angry that Nurul only received a RM800 fine and was spared a jail sentence?
9. Why are poorer people treated differently?
   Last week, a single mother was jailed for one month, but on appeal, her sentence was commuted to a RM1,000 fine. She had already spent eight days in jail, and had to borrow money to pay her fine. In addition, she had to make special arrangements for the care of her 6-year-old son. She had only gone out to buy a drink for him.
   
   A student was fined RM1,000, and jailed, as was a retiree who went out to buy food. The old man was charged for flouting the MCO, and then had to wait 7-and-a-half hours, for his case to be heard. By the time the sentence had been passed, the banks were closed. He was forced to spend the night in jail.
   
   Where is the court’s compassion, especially as it delayed the hearing and contributed to the man’s inability to post bail?
10. Muhyiddin Yassin claims he wants to “save” Malaysia. What does he mean by save?
    
    Is he reserving Malaysia’s wealth, for the politicians, their families and their cronies? What about the rakyat’s well-being?
    
    He is certainly not saving Malaysia from harm or from corrupt politicians and their equally corrupt civil servants who feel they can rob ordinary Malaysians of equality and fairness.

Zahid’s daughter’s case has exposed the hypocrisy of the judicial system.

The poor are swiftly investigated. The rich and mighty are only investigated after a public outcry. There are no reporters at their trial, are fined a small sum of money and as we have seen in most high-profile trails, are not handcuffed or dressed in the orange prison gear.

-rebuilding malaysia