Former minister Zaid Ibrahim slammed the government for allegedly practising double standards when taking action on issues concerning the royals.
Citing the Bar Council as an example, he asked why the government had not taken action against the body for questioning the Agong’s prerogative in issuing pardons.
“The government says no talking about 3R (race, religion and royalty) or you deserve to go to jail, but not the Bar Council.
“It was an outright challenge to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s (court challenge) powers but has the government opposed the action?
“Be consistent and not be selectively angry,” Zaid (above) said on Facebook.
On April 30, the Malaysian Bar filed a legal challenge to nullify the Pardons Board’s decision to reduce former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak’s 12-year jail sentence to six years and RM210 million fine to RM50 million.
The Bar’s legal representatives from the law firm Amir & Rajpal Ghai filed the judicial review leave application at the Kuala Lumpur High Court last Friday.
The legal profession body previously announced its intent to file a court challenge against the controversial Pardons Board decision.
According to a copy of the cause papers, the Bar named the Pardons Board for the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya; as well as the former prime minister, as the first and second respondents.
It is to note that Najib acquired a partial pardon when the Pardon’s Board was chaired under the previous Agong Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah.
Zaid made the call after Bersatu information committee member Badrul Hisham Shaharin, also known as Chegubard, was charged in the Johor Bahru Sessions Court on April 30 with allegedly making seditious remarks related to a casino project in Forest City after a Bloomberg report claimed that the government was mulling the idea.
Earlier today, blogger Papagomo was charged with sedition at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court over his social media post on socks with the word Allah.
The pro-Perikatan Nasional activist, whose real name is Wan Muhammad Azri Wan Deris, claimed trial to the charge read before judge Siti Aminah Ghazali.
Wan Azri is facing charges for allegedly making inflammatory statements that bring hatred to Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar.
‘Do you care about principles?’
On that note, Zaid reminded the government that the Bar Council is challenging the Pardons Board’s decision, which he claimed was an act of challenging the powers of the king as head of state to pardon or commute the jail sentence of any citizen.
He also questioned the Bar Council on whether the action they took received endorsement from its members as stipulated in its regulations.
“The courts have consistently held to the principle that the power to pardon is absolute and not justiciable.
“But the Bar Council, like this government, do not care much about principles… only when it suits them,” he added.
The decision to challenge the Pardons Board’s decision was passed in its 78th annual general meeting held on March 16, after receiving an “overwhelming majority”.
“Our duty is to protect the rule of law. We are only filling the judicial review on the Pardons Board and not on the decision made by the Agong. The manner and how it was conducted,” its president Ezri Abdul Wahab was reported as saying back then.
Ezri said this is because many were unhappy with the Pardons Board’s decision.
“So, the judicial review is to ascertain what is the right thing that should happen,” he added.
Meanwhile, Zaid stressed that the government must be consistent when applying the principles they proclaim to hold on to and go all out to protect all monarchs.
“If you want to defend the actions of the royals, defend all royals. If you’re going to send critics of the royals to jail, do not limit only to Chegubard or Papagomo but to the Bar Council, too.” - Mkini
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