On men and matters, let us grow up

 

From Ganesh Sahathevan

I refer to Zaid Ibrahim’s proposal for the suspension of matters involving politicians.

Ronald Reagan once said that politics is the second-oldest profession but he wondered if it was beginning to resemble the first. However, if the proposal of the former law minister Zaid is adopted, only politicians will have criminal charges suspended until a new attorney-general is appointed. Members of the oldest profession, and all others, will not be accorded that privilege.

Why politicians ought to be accorded that privilege is unclear, and one assumes that Zaid’s proposal is motivated by the perception that the current attorney-general Idrus Harun and his predecessor Tommy Thomas are tainted by political motives, and that as a result, all and any prosecutions commenced against politicians would be unjust. To paraphrase Zaid, they are likely to be denied their constitutional rights to a fair trial.

These are serious allegations, for if one accepts without objective evidence that the country’s attorneys-general are motivated by anything but their duty to uphold the law then there is no reason for anyone to accept that they would have acted impartially in any matter. All their decisions must be considered unsafe, and prosecutions against anyone, not just politicians, ought to be suspended. In short, the country’s justice system would cease to operate.

Indeed, there would be no reason to accept that any past attorney-general, and law minister (as Zaid was) served the law and not politics. All and any of their decisions must then be reviewed. Accepting that that ought to be the case if justice is to prevail, there still remains the question of why any future attorney-general ought to be regarded as anything more than slaves to their political masters who, via the device of advice to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, elevate them to that premier position over all their peers.

To paraphrase Lee Kuan Yew on men and matters, let us grow up. - FMT

Ganesh Sahathevan is an FMT reader.

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