UMNO Youth chief Datuk Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh is seemingly offended by the accusation levelled on him by PKR Youth chief Adam Adli that his questioning of the royal pardon granted to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is “an attempt to distort the facts”.
Following this, Adli who is also the Deputy Youth and Sports Minister has called on his UMNO counterpart to retract his statement which is deemed as having belittled the power of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (YDPA) in the pardon process.
“Can you tell me which of my sentence shows that I disputed the Agong’s jurisdiction to (consenting/rejecting a) pardon?” Akmal who is also the Merlimau state assemblyman rebutted Adli in a Facebook post.
“I hope Adam Adli can distinguish between the meaning between a question and a dispute.”
In an earlier FB post, the Melaka rural development, agriculture and food security committee chairman had posed a question to the Attorney-General (AG) “if the pardon granted to PMX by the previous Agong (in 2018) had also been brought to the (Federal Territories) Pardons Board”.
Akmal had contended that when Anwar was pardoned and released from a five-year jail term for sodomy, the cabinet had yet been formed by the Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s administration following the Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) victory in the May 2018 general elections.
His query was made in response to the Attorney-General’s Chambers’ (AGC) statement on Saturday (Dec 28) that all pardon applications for offences committed in Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya must be submitted to the FT Pardons Board.
In this regard, the AGC said all proposals for prisoners in the Federal Territories to serve the remainder of their sentence under house arrest, including incarcerated former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak, have to be submitted to the board.
But after he was trolled on social media by Madani government backers for apparently jumping the gun without proper researching”, Akmal penned another FB post stating that while his question to the AG about Anwar’s pardon been deliberated by the Pardons Board has been answered, he has “a second question for the AG”.
Nak tanya si Akmal ni, kalau macam ni ada ikut prosedur tak? Level dia ni macam walaun je 🤣 https://t.co/NWnIGCJALD pic.twitter.com/29qfTMt12O
— Jason Yew (@jasonyew) December 29, 2024
Menjawab persoalan Saudara YB Ketua Pemuda UMNO, Mesyuarat Lembaga Pengampunan ke-51 telah diadakan pada 16 Mei 2018 dalam membincangkan & melukuskan Pengampunan Penuh YAB PMX dahulu.
InshaAllah kalau google pun, akan dapat maklumat ini dengan mudah. pic.twitter.com/4Rykosl5ZR— Dr. Abu Hafiz (@abuhafiz1) December 29, 2024
“This is that under Article 42 of the Federal Constitution, the power of pardon is an ABSOLUTE POWER HOLDEN BY THE AGONG, hence does that mean that the said absolute power needs to be referred to the pardon board first?” asked the Russia-trained medical doctor.
“And would a pardon decree made by the Agong without the consent of the Pardons Board be invalid? Appreciate if the AG can answer this question.”
This is when the then AG Tan Sri Mohamed Apandi Ali responded with a ‘partial’ answer that he has given his “views as AG for consideration by the Pardons Board”. – Dec 30, 2024
Main image credit: Akmal Saleh/Facebook; Adam Adli/X
