VICTORY begets victory is an English expression that is widely used yet little understood.
In the conviction of Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, the wife of the already convicted and jailed former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, the Malaysian judiciary is beginning to show that big wigs in the upper stratosphere of Malaysian politics can and do fall.
But how did this process begin? It started from the constant clamour for reforms, which finally culminated in the people’s power of May 9, 2018, where the 61-year reign of UMNO/Barisan Nasional (BN) was finally snapped into two.
Although the Sheraton Move was a big setback between Feb 23 and 29, 2020, leading to the reins of power going back to the newly formed coalition that included UMNO on March 1, 2020, the legal prosecution of most of the corruption cases continued, with the exception of several discharges not amounting to acquittals (DNAA).
It was the latter that had Malaysians and the world worried that the kleptocrats would get away.
The kleptocrats are still trying, which is why the guilty verdict pronounced on Rosmah is important in every sense of the word.
No judicial interference by the executive
Why? While there is an ongoing campaign by UMNO, the political party of Najib, to seek a full royal pardon for him, the process is likely to be futile.
The very nomination for a pardon of Najib’s all-round conviction has to come from the prime minister’s Clemency Commission, which Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri has yet to activate.
Forget not the other court cases that Najib has yet to complete.
What’s more, Najib was given the fullest legal avenues to dispute the charges. Yet he was convicted, first by the High Court, then the Court of Appeals and finally the Federal Court, with a total of nine judges in all, who, at each process declared Najib guilty as charged.
Convicted of embezzling RM42 mil from SRC International, a subsidiary of the equally scandal-ridden 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), Najib was incarcerated at the Kajang Prison on Aug 23, 2022, for 12 years, and fined RM210 mil.
On the other hand, Rosmah, who likes to be referred to as the first lady, is now out on a bail of RM2 mil paid four years ago when she was first charged.
If she does not appeal, which of course she would, using the same legal tactics or playbook of her husband, she would otherwise have to serve 10 years in prison in all and pay the RM970 mil fine in lieu of an additional custodial sentence.
Rosmah’s lawyer Datuk Jagjit Singh criticised the fine amount as being “too high”. “To be sure, the fine imposed is unprecedented, the largest in Malaysian legal history,” he told reporters outside the court. “Now our client has to come up with nearly RM1 bil and she doesn’t have a source of income.”
With the guilty verdicts of both the husband and wife and the judge presiding over Rosmah’s case finding that Rosmah did have a substantial influence on “her husband’s decision”, some of the ministers in UMNO and elsewhere who have been charged in the heyday of the 22-month Pakatan Harapan Government before it cracked apart could quiver in fear.
Legal precedents set
Several legal precedents have been set in the case of Najib and now Rosmah. Per the dynamics and mechanics of the Anglo-Saxon laws as applied in the Federal Constitution, all parties involved directly or indirectly in corruption would have to cast away the charges that they did not have any roles whatsoever in each of the cases of their superiors, spouses or even their subordinates, whether there is any form of conjugal, non-conjugal or family or non-family ties.
This is the seismic shift in the legal verdict on Sept 1, 2022, against Rosmah, as it was against Najib on Aug 23, 2022.
However, if any Malaysians are celebrating in joy, they must not. No matter how judicious the judiciary is, it is a human institution after all.
All the right honourable judges and esteemed chief justice can never always be around forever. Those judges who will come after their tenures and live in this earthly realm may or may not be able to exercise the same courage.
The signs of UMNO trying to re-dominate the judiciary are already clear, with lawyer-lawmaker Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, a former Dewan Rakyat deputy speaker and special advisor to Ismail already asking UMNO to put a lease on the future attorney-general should UMNO/BN come to power.
Just the other day Azalina resigned as the prime minister’s special adviser on law and human rights, as confirmed by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO’s) media statement dated Sep 1, 2022.
Thus, the legal verdict of Najib and Rosmah can be rightly applauded, as the judiciary – for now – has worked.
Malaysians of all stripes and colours would still have to root for a political coalition or electoral pact that guarantees the independence of the judiciary come the 15th General Elections (GE15), which has to be held before September 2023.
Barring this choice, the only way for UMNO or anyone to spring themselves from corruption is by undermining all and sundry – that includes you reading this article – that they have been perjured and wronged. No, they have not.
The reforms against all rounds of corruption must continue unabated with total vigour. The solution is an all-around rejection of the kleptocrats in GE15 more than anything else.
This is because the moment BN makes a comeback, they will indeed do what Azalina has said and written without retracting the plan.
Be that as may, Ismail has stood his ground against all pressure from UMNO/BN in not interfering in judiciary matters and should be rightly lauded.
Truth, these days, is in the eye of the beholder. – Sept 4, 2022
Dr Rais Hussin is the CEO of EMIR Research, an independent think tank focused on strategic policy recommendations based on rigorous research.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
Main photo credit: The Star
