MADANI SHOOTS HIMSELF IN THE ASS IN PUBLIC ON SINGAPORE TV / MADANI TEMBAK BONTOT SENDIRI DI TV SINGAPURA

 if the charges against Mr DNAA were so defective, why did the AG wait more than three years after the trial commenced and after some 77 days of trial and after 99 prosecution witnesses had been called, before asking the court to in effect terminate the trial by granting a DNAA? 

 

isn’t it strange too that the same AG (Idrus Harun) served both prime ministers Muhyiddin Yassin and Ismail Sabri without any talk of a DNAA but only after Madani the same AG has a change of heart? And that too just after the lead prosecutor mysteriously retires.   

 

If the charges against Mr DNAA were so flawed, why did the judge hearing the case conclude that there was a prima facie case to answer?

 

 

Here is that comment by Dennis Ignatius which I have received twice already. I have slightly edited and adapted the text. My comments in blue.

 

In a televised interview during the 10th Milken Institute Conference in Singapore earlier this week, Madani gave three reasons to justify dropping all 47 charges for corruption and abuse of power against his deputy. 

He said that:

[1] the charges were not professionally done.

[2] the charges were politically motivated; that Mahathir was seeking to punish Mr DNAA for refusing to dissolve UMNO as he had demanded.

[3] the charges were apparently so flawed that it bothered the conscience of the AG who wanted to set things right before leaving office.

Interestingly, while he was reluctant to explain the whole DNAA decision in the Malaysian Parliament he had no trouble speaking his mind in Singapore to an international audience.
 

(OSTB : He likes the sound of words coming out of his mouth. It does not matter what the words mean. His speeches are always quite meaningless. This meaninglessness is a recurring theme in all his speeches, especially the impromptu ones where he does not have a prepared text. You Malaysians pay closer attention to his speeches - they are meaningless. Just words and words and words.)

But his defence of  Mr DNAA only raises more questions. In the first place, his remarks about the high number of charges against Mr DNAA betrays a lack of understanding of the law which requires the charges to be very specific, that each act of alleged wrong-doing must be itemised. Lawyers I have talked to are simply stunned that Madani could be so ignorant of the legal system of the country which he represents.

(OSTB : Well I am stunned that the lawyers did not detect this much earlier. As you know the lawyers were among his closest supporters.)

Is Madani also suggesting then that the previous AG (Tommy Thomas) had acted in bad faith when he charged Mr DNAA in 2018, that he was a party to some grand conspiracy to go after UMNO leaders? Strange, that the only AG in recent times who seems to have done his job is now being pilloried, harassed and investigated while those charged are set free.

And is Madani now agreeing with UMNO that the whole series of cases brought against UMNO leaders for corruption, money laundering and abuse of power were just the political machinations of Mahathir? If so, it is an astounding condemnation of our legal system.

Furthermore, if the charges against Mr DNAA were so flawed, why did the judge hearing the case conclude that there was a prima facie case to answer? Is Madani suggesting that somehow the judge got it wrong too? 

(OSTB : So suddenly the legal-illiterate Madani has become a legal expert surpassing a tenured and learned judge of the High Court.)

As well, if the charges against Mr DNAA were so defective, why did the AG wait more than three years after the trial commenced and after some 77 days of trial and after 99 prosecution witnesses had been called, before asking the court to in effect terminate the trial by granting a DNAA?

Isn’t it strange too that the same AG (Idrus Harun) served both prime ministers Muhyiddin Yassin and Ismail Sabri without any talk of a DNAA but after Madani the same AG has a change of heart? And that too just after the lead prosecutor mysteriously retires.

At the end of the day, no matter how Madani tries to spin it, it doesn’t pass the smell test. It doesn’t add up. It’s just too convenient. It doesn’t take a legal expert to conclude that Madani's justification is just baloney, the act of a desperate politician trying to defend the unjustifiable.

What he is doing is engaging in a blatant politically-motivated deception of his own to justify what most “thinking Malaysians” (to quote Madani in his Singapore TV interview) already knows to be an unconscionable act, one that strikes at the very heart of our system of justice.

Indeed, it is so outrageous and so irresponsible that it immediately compromises his own integrity and calls into question his commitment to justice, good governance and fighting corruption.

(OSTB : At last what I (and my friends) have been saying, repeatedly for over 28 years is being noticed by others as well. What can I say except "I TOLD YOU SO". But better late than never.  

• First he shamelessly appointed himself Finance Minister - till today.
• It is shameful only if others do it.
  
• He appointed his daughter into his office somewhere - till today.
• It is corrupt only if others do it.
  
• He told the Indians - the quotas stay. Take it or leave it.
• It is racist only when others do it.
  
• Then there was that 40 fables book for the schools.
• Now this DNAA crap.
• It is wrong only when others do it.
  

It is just non-stop, coming one after another. And its only been ten months.)

No doubt Madani’s supporters will rush to his aid with all that nonsense about the lesser of two evils, oblivious of the fact that evil still triumphs as this whole affair makes clear.

What a sad commentary about the state of affairs in our nation as we commemorate the 60th anniversary of the founding of Malaysia.

[Dennis Ignatius | Kuala Lumpur | 16 September 2023]

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