Letter to Editor
THE stars are now aligned for Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi. Earlier this week, his lawyers requested the court to delay his 47 corruption charges with a view of having them dropped owing to “new facts and evidence”.
What’s more shocking was that the deputy public prosecutor (DPP) told the court that there were instructions not to object to the request made by Zahid’s legal team!
This is not the first time the prosecutors who were supposed to be legally adversarial to Zahid had made decisions that favoured the UMNO president.
Late last month, the DPP also did not object to Zahid’s application to the court to get his passport back permanently as there were also “instructions” to the effect.
Here we have a serving DPM facing a litany of corruption charges amounting to millions of ringgit gleefully walking away with his passport while study loan defaulters or those declared bankrupt for a far smaller quantum were barred from travelling abroad.
Are there two sets of laws in Malaysia – one oforthe political elites and another for lesser mortals?
UMNO-influenced GLC appointments
What’s more troubling is that Zahid has been riding roughshod over the unity government with such impunity that the very foundations of good governance and transparency which PM Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had espoused are at risk of crumbling.
Remember when Zahid who is also Rural and Regional Development Minister appointed his loyalist Datuk Ahmad Jazlan Yaakob as Felcra Bhd chairman in December?
The announcement created a massive public fallout because it went against Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) pledge of not appointing politicians into GLCs. So much so that Anwar had to announce that the appointment was put on hold.
But lo and behold, Ahmad Jazlan’s appointment to Felcra was confirmed last month. That’s it: Zahid 1-Anwar 0 as far as political appointments in GLCs are concerned. But this did not stop there.
Other Zahid loyalists like Datuk Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki who is the UMNO secretary-general has been made MARA boss. Parit Sulong MP Datuk Dr Noraini Ahmad who is the UMNO Wanita chief was appointed to chair RISDA (the Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority).
The latest appointment was ex-Baling MP Datuk Abdul Azeez Rahim to the Kedah Development Authority (KEDA). But given Azeez’s tainted reputation, especially when he chaired Tabung Haji, Anwar recently announced that the appointment had been put on hold.
But will Anwar buckle under political pressure from his own deputy? One cannot rule out another “Ahmad Jazlan episode” with regard to Azeez’s appointment to KEDA.
Who’s calling the shot?
These slew of appointments makes one wonder who is really pulling the levers of power in Putrajaya. Is Zahid the puppeteer PM? Does he have Anwar (whom he labelled as sifu in a purported leaked phone call) under his thumbs?
It is not difficult to see why Anwar is willing to make major concessions when it comes to Zahid. BN has 30 MPs, the bulk of whom are from UMNO and subservient to Zahid.
They are the ones propping up Anwar’s unity government which is nothing more than a marriage of convenience between a kleptocracy-tainted BN and PH – a front that is, prior to this, built on reforms and good governance.
Alas, just like the Malay proverb kerana nila setitik, rosak susu sebelanga or its English equivalent “a rotten apple spoils the whole barrel”, PH’s image is being speedily chipped away by the shenanigans from the likes of Zahid.
PH needs to do some soul-searching ahead of elections in six states soon lest Anwar – the longest PM-in-waiting – becomes the PM with the shortest tenure (Editor’s Note: The record is presently held by Anwar’s predecessor Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob with 14 months.)
For starters, he should stand up to his own deputy and show who’s the boss before the rakyat stands up to him and tell them that THEY are the boss and not Zahid. – April 13, 2023
Abdul Rahim Md Noor
Subang Jaya
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
