We have the right to know

 

The issues surrounding the partial pardon of convict Najib Razak are cloaked in secrecy. And our government thinks it is all right. It is not.

We have the right to know. Especially when it is something that shakes the very foundations of our legal system and creates a precedent that greatly affects our future. More so, what message does it send to our people regarding our system of justice? Is ours a system that protects the rich and the guilty? Does our law apply equally to all citizens regardless of social status?

The Federal Territories Pardons Board has reduced Najib’s sentence from 12 years to six years and his fine from RM210 million to RM50 million. None of our leaders have explained why. If there are good, cogent reasons, tell us. If commuting his sentence and reducing his fine is good for the nation, tell us. The powers that be must explain to the rakyat.

The power to pardon is in Article 42 of our Federal Constitution. This article also prescribes the formation of an institution under our Constitution called the “Pardons Board”.

It is a long article with 13 clauses. It is pertinent to note that none of the clauses prohibit the Pardons Board from explaining the reasons for granting a pardon. Natural justice demands that they do explain.

Let us compare the institution of the Pardons Board with another institution in our Federal Constitution, the judiciary. Can you imagine what our legal system will become if a judge makes a judgment and refuses to say why?

And now, we are told by DPM Zahid’s affidavit and Najib’s application to the court that there is an “addendum” purportedly signed by the former Agong prescribing that Najib spend the rest of his prison time at his own home.

If there has been such a decision by the former Agong, tell us what is the basis for the decision? If it is for a good reason, there is no need to conceal it from the rakyat. There is nothing to fear if the motives are good.

There is speculation that the addendum may be unenforceable because it was made functus officio (that the maker is bereft of jurisdiction). There have been assertions by lawyers that “house arrest” is not available by law.

Was the Pardons Board’s decision on Najib legal? The Malaysian Bar has applied to the court to challenge this decision. Did the former Agong act on advice? Should he do so, under the law?

These issues ought to be heard and determined by an impartial courageous tribunal.

Najib’s lawyer has applied for the application regarding the “addendum” to be heard in chambers and the judge has granted it. Again, the secrecy. Why? For an issue of public interest as important as this, it should be debated in the full light of day, in open court. And the press should be allowed to cover it. Justice dies in darkness.

Lately, this darkness that is blotting out information and intellectual discourse seems to be growing. Instead of discussing issues openly, there is a noticeable trend of shutting them down. Do we have such little respect for our people’s ability to think?

Deficient laws such as the Sedition Act, the Communications and Multimedia Act and the Peaceful Assembly Act, have been used to silence and oppress those who speak up and those who assemble peacefully. The draconian implementers have forgotten the people’s fundamental rights of freedom of speech and freedom of assembly guaranteed under the Federal Constitution.

Years ago, I remember watching an interview Anwar Ibrahim had with the foreign press where he said something to the effect that ‘there is freedom of speech in Malaysia; there is just no freedom after speech’, typical of many of his charming criticisms of the government as a champion of Reformasi. Those were the days. Now that he is the powerful prime minister, we see the halo casting a depressing shadow. He has squandered almost one-and-a-half years of opportunity and much of our loyalty and hopes.

I am suddenly reminded of the movie “The Lord of the Rings”. In it, there is a precious ring with mysterious powers and whoever wears it cannot help being transformed and overwhelmed by its power.

Sadly, it seems that so many of those who had marched with us on the road to fight for people’s rights and for reformation, whom we elected to government and who now wear the rings of power, have seemed to cross to the dark side. They are now quiet on important issues and loud on political platitudes.

Is it too much to expect our leaders to fight for our right to know? In fact, it is their duty. They took an oath as Members of Parliament to “bear true faith and allegiance to Malaysia and will preserve, protect and defend its Constitution”. It is submitted that the ‘right to know’ is inherent in the ‘right to life’ as provided by Article 5 of the Federal Constitution.

The pardon and favourable treatment of a perpetrator, who has been convicted of stealing millions from the rakyat, will have an adverse effect on the economy. Investors may shy away from putting money in a country with this glaring misrule of law. Our right to life includes the expectation that our government protects our economy and our livelihood.

May I beseech our leaders to look further ahead than their Rings of power on their fingers. Think of the institutions that you are destroying instead of building and sustaining.
There is an old saying that “a society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit.”

We need leaders to do things today to protect the generations tomorrow. Unselfishly. Unafraid. Undaunted by the challenge to create good and righteous precedents. We are caught between an outdated past and an uncharted future.

I am strangely reminded of an old nursery rhyme. It must be all the talk about the Ring and mysterious forces.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall,
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men,
Could not put Humpty together again.

 - FMT

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