IN its perhaps one last hard push to convince Malaysians the seriousness of its war against corruption, especially those involving evasive “VVIP sharks”, the Madani government can perhaps make popular medical facilities for the famous and wealthy a legit venue to convene a court proceeding.
This came about after former Selangor State Legislative Assembly speaker (2008-2013) Datuk Teng Chang Khim mooted in a one-liner on his Facebook page that “the government should set up courtroom in major hospitals to facilitate VIPs who often fall sick before appearing in court”.
This prompted a legally-sound commenter to brush aside such need as “unnecessary” given “the presiding judge can just declare the ward as a court and proceed with the proceedings as usual so long as the charge could be read to the accused unless he/she is in coma”.
In all seriousness, judges have the authority to hold special or bedside sittings outside the standard courtroom – such as in a hospital room, a nursing home or a private residence – when a key witness, defendant or plaintiff is seriously ill, immobile or nearing the end of life and their testimony is urgently required before justice is compromised.
For the uninitiated, the former six-term DAP state assemblyman who is a qualified lawyer was training his guns at ninth premier (PM9) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob who developed an eleventh-hour weak heart condition which led to his court date yesterday (Aug 7) – believed to be over declaration of assets – postponed to Aug 27.
Sessions Court judge Suzana Hussin allowed a request from Ismail Sabri’s lawyer to postpone the reading of charges against the Bera MP and former UMNO vice-president in light of his health condition and because the prosecution did not object.
One coincidence too many
Apparently, Datuk Amer Hamzah Arshad has informed the judge that his client had been admitted to the National Heart Institute (IJN) since Thursday (Aug 6) when he turned up at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) headquarters in Cyberjaya to record his statement.
Moreover, it was claimed that an earlier plan for the learned judge to read out the charges to Ismail Sabri was unfeasible given he was to undergo a pacemaker procedure yesterday afternoon (Aug 7).
Despite the prosecution having accepted the defence’s justification on “humanitarian grounds”, detractors were seemingly unforgiving of the ill health of the “Keluarga Malaysia” (Malaysian Family) national concept creator by poking fun at him on cyberspace.
“Fell two weeks ago and heart stopped twice but still managed to campaign for the Negeri Sembilan state polls on July 31?” jibed vocal political observer Alawiyah Yussof (@AlawiyahYussof) on X.
The social media activist was responding to a Malaysiakini report citing Ismail Sabri’s defence attorney that “two weeks prior, he (Ismail Sabri) fell and had medical needs”. Henceforth, the politician was forced to be admitted to IJN and there was even an occasion when “his heart stopped beating for about two seconds”.
The cat lover was not alone as more critics poured in from pro-Madani keyboard warriors who contradicted the account of the lawyer/s of the globalising Bahasa Malaysia and wearing batik champion.
This was when netizens cyberspace-wide chipped in with more evidence of “pretence” politicians and how to get away when the long arms of the law catch up with them.
Unfortunately, a matter of coincidence or otherwise, Malaysia’s premier and leading specialist center for cardiovascular and thoracic care, IJN, seems to be a favourite target as evidenced from the main images of this article.
One creative netizen even come out with his so-called “corruption recovery package” offered by his fictitious “Aman Sentosa Private Hospital” while another chided that “some politicians never lose an election … but always seem to lose their health before a trial? 
” – Aug 8, 2026
- Focus Malaysia
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