UMNO supreme council member Datuk Lokman Noor Adam has welcomed the idea of a national reconciliation where every ruling government abstains from using what is perceived as political persecution means to prosecute key leaders of the opposition after assuming power.
He further opined that the time has come for Prime Minister (PM) Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to seriously consider such idea which he deemed as fair to all the accused in regardless of the charges that were levelled against them.
To make the idea as feasible and as fair as possible, the UMNO communication director suggested that the timeline should start from the period of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s second tenure as PM during the Pakatan Harapan (PH) short-lived rule of 22 months.
“This can then continue to the period of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri and Anwar although it has to be made clear that the current Attorney-General was appointed by Muhyiddin,” he shared during a question and answer (Q&A) session in a live Facebook broadcast last night (May1).
“Whether it’s (ex-premier) Datuk Seri Najib Razak, (former Finance Minister) Lim Guan Eng, (MUDA president) Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman or (former treasury secretary-general) Tan Sri Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah, drop all (their charges) and start afresh,”
Added Lokman: “Every of the accused is to put his signature on the dotted lines like how the opposition has inked the confidence and supply agreement (CSA) with the Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s administration in the past.”
This according to Lokman will create a clear passage for Anwar’s unity government to forge ahead with the development of the country.
“Nevertheless, we cannot be silent if there’s a new corruption case; also don’t simply accuse the government of the day to drop cases in the future when during the time of your rule, you, too, had dropped earlier cases,” he caveated. “Hence, the reconciliation process must be undertaken with proper care … that I fully agree as the way forward.”
Lokman’s comment came in the wake of a call by National PAS working committee member Dr Mohd Zuhdi Marzuki who mooted a national consensus initiative among political parties to comprehensively look at issues pertaining to political persecution, including matters related to amnesty/royal pardon and withdrawal of charges.
This is considering that there have been arguments that major court cases in recent times such as SRC International Sdn Bhd, 1MDB (1Malaysia Development Bhd), Yayasan Akal Budi, Dana Jana Wibawa, the Pandora Paper and others are a series of political prosecutions.
“If the leader of the accused political party succeeds in helming the next government, they will do the same to their opponents,” opined Mohd Zuhdi whom Lokman had described as “the few gems in PAS today”.
“If their leaders have been found guilty before, they will find a way to free them as what PH did in 2018 by initiating Anwar’s royal pardon and Guan Eng’s acquittal from his bungalow case.
He added: “As such, the issue of integrity and eradication of corruption in this country cannot be resolved with perceived political persecution. Instead, the people may lose faith in enforcement agencies and the legal system that can be manipulated by powerful politicians.” – May 2, 2023
