It’s Malaysia Day tomorrow but it seems like we are undoing our reform agenda, backtracking on election promises, and worse, contributing to a shrinking democratic space in the country.
How does one recover from the stinging effect of the dropping of all 47 charges against Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi by the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC), or digest the eleven reasons given by the AGC, which weren’t worth the paper it was written on?
This case is of public interest and therefore why was the 200-page representation paper by Zahid’s lawyers not made public?
Before we could recover from this travesty of justice, former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak and former 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy walked free because the AGC missed the deadline to file the appeal by two months.
Let these two words sink in - two months.
And that too in a case where Najib is alleged to have tampered with the Auditor-General’s report relating to 1MDB. Would this, therefore, not raise questions such as whether this was negligence or intentional, especially when no one has been held responsible?
I was talking to a friend and he said reforms by the Pakatan Harapan-led government must be a given instead of people having to fight tooth and nail for it.
His argument centred around the government’s actions to reverse promised reforms such as reviewing or amending the Sedition Act, Printing Presses & Publications Act, Security Offences (Special Measures) Act, and the Official Secrets Act.
He was also disheartened by the use of the police to block farmers and Parti Sosialis Malaysia’s activists from handing over a memorandum to Parliament.
We have always highlighted the plight of farmers and fisherfolk and the importance of food security. So, the question is “What has changed now?”
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim fought 25 years to end abuse of power and corruption through the “reformasi” movement.’
He was kicked out of power, manufactured charges ended his political career prematurely, went through a humiliating court process, was beaten in prison, and yet did not waver on his principles.
I want to see a resurgence of that Anwar, who galvanised hundreds of thousands of people in support of good governance and accountability.
To that hope, I wish you a Selamat Hari Malaysia. - Mkini
CHARLES SANTIAGO is former Klang MP.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.
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