{"id":12093,"date":"2015-02-11T18:44:25","date_gmt":"2015-02-11T10:44:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/?p=12093"},"modified":"2015-02-11T18:44:25","modified_gmt":"2015-02-11T10:44:25","slug":"malaysia-in-the-international-doghouse-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/malaysia-in-the-international-doghouse-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Malaysia in the international doghouse again"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Lim Kit Siang, MP for Gelang Patah<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"SUFI0587\"<\/a>

One of Anwar’s supporters outside the Palace of Justice yesterday, with the police and the Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) standing by.<\/p><\/div>\n

The 5-0 unanimous decision of the Federal Court yesterday rejecting Anwar Ibrahim\u2019s appeal was not only a dishonour to Anwar\u2019s 47-year patriotic service in furtherance of justice, freedom, human dignity and Malaysian nation-building, it was also a disservice to Malaysia\u2019s international reputation as well as Vision 2020 for Malaysia to join the ranks of developed nations in five years\u2019 time.<\/p>\n

Thanks to the Federal Court on Anwar\u2019s appeal yesterday, Malaysia is again in the international doghouse over the rule of law, democracy and human rights \u2013no more terrible start this year for Malaysia with the double responsibility as member of the United Nations Security Council and Chairman of ASEAN.<\/p>\n

The United States, United Kingdom, Canadian and Australian governments, the European Union (EU) as well as international press and human right bodies have all raised the red flag about Malaysia\u2019s descent to a \u201crogue\u201d state.<\/p>\n

The White House national security council spokesperson Bernadette Meehan said the United States was \u201cdeeply concerned\u201d with Anwar\u2019s conviction and is concerned about the rule of law in Malaysia.<\/p>\n

The United Kingdom\u2019s foreign and commonwealth office said that apart from the integrity of the rule of law, Malaysia must embrace moderation and tolerance to succeed.<\/p>\n

The High Commission of Canada in Kuala Lumpur notes that Anwar\u2019s conviction has come at a time when \u201cCanada and other countries have conveyed concerns regarding selective prosecutions, including the Sedition Act 1948\u201d.<\/p>\n

Even the Singapore Business Times editorialised that \u201cpublic confidence in the judiciary has slipped to the point that few were shocked with yesterday\u2019s outcome\u201d.<\/p>\n

In fact, the unprecdented statement from the Prime Minister\u2019s Office, minutes after the Chief Justice Tun Ariffin Zakaria announced the court\u2019s unanimous rejection of Anwar\u2019s appeal, but before the sentencing had been announced, only escalated national and international doubts about whether there is true independence of the judiciary and just rule of law.<\/p>\n

This resulted in Anwar\u2019s bitter tirade from the dock at the judges \u201cfor selling their souls to the devil\u201d and \u201cbowing to the dictates of the political, master\u201d, in the process becoming \u201cpartners in crime for the murder of judicial independence and integrity\u201d.<\/p>\n

This led to the unprecedented \u201cwalk out\u201d of the Federal Court by all the five Federal Court judges \u2013 a dubious \u201cfirst\u201d in the 58-year history of Malayan\/Malaysian judiciary!<\/p>\n

No wonder, the Malaysian Bar president Christopher Leong was moved to comment that the \u201cglaring anomalies\u201d in Anwar\u2019s conviction for sodomy is feeding suspicions that Anwar\u2019s case was one of political persecution rather than criminal prosecution.<\/p>\n

For instance, why was Anwar\u2019s accuser, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, not prosecuted despite the decision to prosecute the opposition leader for consensual anal sex as the Federal Court had held that consent was not an ingredient of the offence.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, the rarity of prosecution using the laws that criminalise \u201ccarnal intercourse against the order of nature\u201d, which include both oral and anal sex, with Anwar prosecuted and convicted twice for an alleged offence of sexual acts between adults wherein the charge does not contain elements of coercion.<\/p>\n

With Anwar\u2019s five-year jail sentence, he will be 72 years before he is released and he will be disqualified from holding an elective office for another five years after release, unless the UMNO\/Barisan Nasional government is toppled in the 14th General Election.<\/p>\n

The heart-rending scenes of Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Ismail, Nurul Izzah and her five siblings and Anwar’s grandchildren in the Federal Court when Anwar\u2019s appeal was dismissed and the sentence passed brought back to me similar heart-breaking memories of 17 years ago in the Federal Court in Kuala Lumpur.<\/p>\n

At that time, the victim of selective prosecution was Lim Guan Eng, then MP for Kota Melaka, who was being punished for championing the rights of a 15 year-old Malay girl in Melaka, and who lost his final appeal and was immediately sent off to Kajang Prison to serve his 18-month jail sentence.<\/p>\n

The whole Lim family was in court but we were utterly helpless like Azizah and her family in the Palace of Justice in Putrajaya yesterday.<\/p>\n

The battle for justice, freedom and human dignity \u2013 the causes which Anwar had dedicated his whole life – must burn stronger in the hearts and souls of all Malaysians until such injustices and abuses are nightmares of the past.<\/p>\n

As I said at the \u201cRakyat Hakim Negara\u201d dinner in Petaling Jaya on the eve of the Federal Court decision on Anwar\u2019s case on Monday night, Pakatan Rakyat is the embodiment of Anwar\u2019s greatest success in the national agenda for change.<\/p>\n

Pakatan Rakyat scored unimagined victories first in the 2008 and then in the 2013 General Elections where Anwar was denied his destiny as the Seventh Prime Minister of Malaysia because of an undemocratic electoral system as Pakatan Rakyat secured 52% of the national vote.<\/p>\n

The three component parties in Pakatan Rakyat, DAP, PKR and PAS, as well as the countless NGOs and NGIs (Non-government individuals) who had given unstinting support to PR in the past seven years, must all be prepared to walk the last mile to ensure the success of Pakatan Rakyat.<\/p>\n

Let me repeat the pledge I made on behalf of DAP on the eve of Anwar\u2019s third incarceration:<\/p>\n

\u201dWe do not hide the fact that PR is afflicted with our greatest crisis since our formation seven years ago, even more challenging than the first crisis PR faced in September 2011, which nearly led to the end of PR.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf PR had broken up over the hudud controversy in September 2011, then the historic result of the 13th General Elections on May 5. 2013 which saw PR winning 52 per cent of electoral vote and reducing the Najib federal administration into a minority government, with PR winning 89 Parliamentary seats and 229 state assembly seats (excluding Sarawak) would not have been achieved.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf PR now breaks up before the next polls, it is anybody\u2019s guess as to what would be the outcome in the 14th General Elections to be held in three years\u2019 time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is precisely because PR embodies the hopes of generations of Malaysians for change and Malaysia\u2019s rendezvous with greatness, that DAP leaders are prepared to walk the last mile to make Pakatan Rakyat work \u2013 and I believe this is also the common sentiments and commitments of PKR and PAS leaders at the unprecedented promises and challenges presented by the PR experiment.<\/p>\n

\u201cPR can only sustain and succeed if we adhere to two fundamental principles which had been the secrets of the PR success in the past six years \u2013 strict adherence to the PR Common Policy Framework which had formed the bedrock common principles of the three component parties in the coalition, and the operational principle of consensus regarding the Pakatan Rakyat Leadership Council as the highest policy-making body for PR.\u201d<\/p>\n

The greatest tribute we can pay to Anwar starting on his third incarceration is to reaffirm these two fundamental principles which held the secrets of the PR success, for it will lead the PR from strength to strength \u2013 what our political opponents in UMNO\/BN fear most and are trying their utmost to destroy PR integrity and viability by the destruction of these two fundamental PR principles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Lim Kit Siang, MP for Gelang Patah The 5-0 unanimous decision of the Federal Court yesterday rejecting Anwar Ibrahim\u2019s appeal was not only a dishonour to Anwar\u2019s 47-year patriotic service in furtherance of justice, freedom, human dignity and Malaysian nation-building, it was also a disservice to Malaysia\u2019s international reputation as well as Vision 2020 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12094,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[260],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12093"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12093\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12096,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12093\/revisions\/12096"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therocket.com.my\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}