Oh Malaysia, land of glory no more?

 

From Clement Stanley

The first line of Anneke Gronloh’s iconic song “Oh Malaysia” goes “Oh Malaysia, land of glory”. I believe most of us who grew up in the era of our first and second prime ministers know this song well.

But it is of course a distant memory now.

While the rakyat has much to be thankful for, especially in these days of gloom and doom, there is no distracting from the fact that the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) has steadfastly refused to explain why it had not appealed against the Court of Appeal’s decision to free Tengku Adnan Mansor, or Ku Nan, of graft charges on which the High Court had found him guilty.

The decision was not unanimous. Yet, the AG decided to simply forget about lodging an appeal against that decision despite the consternation of the Bar Council, NGOs and law practitioners. Perhaps, silence is golden after all.

The AGC, however, is adamant about appealing against a High Court ruling that children born overseas to Malaysian mothers and foreign fathers are entitled to be citizens by operation of law.

How can this ruling be of greater concern to the government than the case of Ku Nan, who accepted the RM2 million, ostensibly as a donation to Umno and could not provide proof of that?

Are we to understand that the wellbeing of children caught in a situation not of their own doing is far less important than that of Ku Nan?

After all, by his own admission, Ku Nan said the sum was mere “pocket money” to him while mothers of children who are not recognised as Malaysian citizens struggle with additional expenses in educating and providing healthcare to their children. Surely, they deserve more compassion than Ku Nan.

What is wrong with this Land of Glory? You are prepared to throw the family institution down the drain and create turmoil within a family but you are okay with allowing the rich and powerful to get away with corruption, which is the bane of our society.

You are prepared to bend over backwards as far as you can go for VIPs but tie the common man to what the law prescribes.

You have sworn to uphold justice. You took your oath before king and country and this is the code that you must live by. Do you feel that compromising on certain situations involving certain people is all right? Your conscience will know the answer to that.

Today you want to make your stand against the right to citizenship known. You are willing to fight to the bitter end, never mind who gets hurt along the way. You choose to challenge what could have been an amicable solution to a sticky problem.

Who knows? You might even win your appeal when the time comes and leave the despondent with broken hearts.

But you will not so much as direct this same energy towards Ku Nan, who today walks a free man. Was justice served in this case? You tell me.

Is justice being denied to the children born overseas to Malaysian women and foreign fathers as far as their right to citizenship goes? You tell me. - FMT

Clement Stanley is an FMT reader.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.