KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 11 — Putrajaya sent a message hailing the independence of the
judiciary just moments after Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was convicted yesterday
but the gesture belied Malaysians’ mistrust in the justice institution, the
Singapore Business Time said today.
In an editorial piece on the Federal Court’s decision to send Anwar to jail over what the opposition leader vehemently insists was a political ploy, the BT said public confidence in the judiciary has slipped to the point that few were shocked with yesterday’s outcome.
“Mr Anwar's defence argument that the trumped-up charges were part of a political conspiracy to topple him was dismissed by the court, but the perception may still persist among pockets of Malaysians.
“It may be for that reason that the top court's decision did not surprise many the same way it did back in March 2012, when the High Court cleared Mr Anwar of the sodomy charge involving a male aide, citing lack of evidence,” the paper wrote today.
Minutes after the Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria announced that Anwar’s appeal was rejected and while the court was still in session, the Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement to affirm the “independence” of the judiciary and to distance the government from the accuser, former Anwar aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.
But the timing was noted by Anwar, who had savaged the judges in a bitter tirade after proceedings ended and said the PMO’s statement was not coincidentally sent just as they made their decision.
Among others, he accused them of “selling their souls to the devil” and “bowing to the dictates of the political master”, in the process becoming “partners in crime for the murder of judicial independence and integrity.”
Both the US and Australia had expressed disappointment over Anwar’s conviction yesterday — “deep disappointment” in the case of the White House — with the former country adding that the decision raised “serious concerns about rule of law and the fairness of the judicial system in Malaysia”.
“As Malaysians put this confounding and unpleasant 17-year sodomy saga behind them — this latest episode could have some backlash to the Najib-led regime — the government needs to put great thought into how it can rebuild the trust in the Malaysian judiciary and its own regime,” the BT said.
Malaysians took to social media yesterday to state their opinions on the outcome of Anwar’s trial, and police responded by launching sedition investigations against two opposition lawmakers and a cartoonist who mocked the decision using Twitter.
The Federal Court yesterday upheld the Court of Appeal’s 2014 ruling that had reversed Anwar’s acquittal of sodomising former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, also sentencing him to five years’ jail.
Anwar will now lose his Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat as the law bars anyone fined over RM2,000 or imprisoned more than one year from serving as a lawmaker.
The decision also leaves the Pakatan Rakyat federal opposition pact without a leader.
Source : http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/anwar-convicted-but-judiciary-still-on-trial-singapore-paper-tells-putrajay
In an editorial piece on the Federal Court’s decision to send Anwar to jail over what the opposition leader vehemently insists was a political ploy, the BT said public confidence in the judiciary has slipped to the point that few were shocked with yesterday’s outcome.
“Mr Anwar's defence argument that the trumped-up charges were part of a political conspiracy to topple him was dismissed by the court, but the perception may still persist among pockets of Malaysians.
“It may be for that reason that the top court's decision did not surprise many the same way it did back in March 2012, when the High Court cleared Mr Anwar of the sodomy charge involving a male aide, citing lack of evidence,” the paper wrote today.
Minutes after the Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria announced that Anwar’s appeal was rejected and while the court was still in session, the Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement to affirm the “independence” of the judiciary and to distance the government from the accuser, former Anwar aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.
But the timing was noted by Anwar, who had savaged the judges in a bitter tirade after proceedings ended and said the PMO’s statement was not coincidentally sent just as they made their decision.
Among others, he accused them of “selling their souls to the devil” and “bowing to the dictates of the political master”, in the process becoming “partners in crime for the murder of judicial independence and integrity.”
Both the US and Australia had expressed disappointment over Anwar’s conviction yesterday — “deep disappointment” in the case of the White House — with the former country adding that the decision raised “serious concerns about rule of law and the fairness of the judicial system in Malaysia”.
“As Malaysians put this confounding and unpleasant 17-year sodomy saga behind them — this latest episode could have some backlash to the Najib-led regime — the government needs to put great thought into how it can rebuild the trust in the Malaysian judiciary and its own regime,” the BT said.
Malaysians took to social media yesterday to state their opinions on the outcome of Anwar’s trial, and police responded by launching sedition investigations against two opposition lawmakers and a cartoonist who mocked the decision using Twitter.
The Federal Court yesterday upheld the Court of Appeal’s 2014 ruling that had reversed Anwar’s acquittal of sodomising former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, also sentencing him to five years’ jail.
Anwar will now lose his Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat as the law bars anyone fined over RM2,000 or imprisoned more than one year from serving as a lawmaker.
The decision also leaves the Pakatan Rakyat federal opposition pact without a leader.
Source : http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/anwar-convicted-but-judiciary-still-on-trial-singapore-paper-tells-putrajay
No comments:
Post a Comment