Raggie Jessy
“Five o nine.”
That’s what they’re calling it these days.
Beyond that, it really depends on who you’re talking to or where you’re getting your material from. If it’s the mainstream media, they’re calling it “the day Pakatan won the election on a compromise,” that compromise being Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the Prime Minister of Malaysia. If it’s pro-Najib, it’s all about “the return to the era of Mahathirism,” the dark ages in Malaysian history where cronyism and nepotism was the order of the day. Whichever way the wheel is spun, it seems to be all about a man many a Chinaman and Indian once swore never to vote for ever again.
Yes, the 9th of May 2018 was the day our country saw Mahathir make a spectacular comeback as Prime Minister. This is a man Lim Kit Siang spent the better half of his life demonizing as a Muslim fanatic who “Islamised the entire socioeconomic and administrative strata.” This is a man the ever so dramatic “mike throwing” Mat Sabu constantly referred to as “Kepala perompak negara yang tahu di mana harta (kerajaan) disembunyikan (Master thief who knows where the (government) wealth is hidden).”
Mahathir Kepala Perompak
But Mat Sabu no longer throws down mikes.
Today, he’s thrown down his principles, sharing a stage with Mahathir as he accuses Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak of being the “Kepala perompak negara.” As a matter of fact, the Amanah president recently accused Najib of abusing his position as Prime Minister by “getting Finance Minister Najib to approve government related deals to Prime Minister Najib.” But when Mahathir quietly got the current Minister of Finance, Lim Guan Eng, to approve an oil and gas unit belonging to his son as fuel provider for government vehicles, Sabu went mum.
He wasn’t shocked.
Neither was Guan Eng’s father, Lim Kit Siang, who, throughout the better part of the nineties, spent his time in Parliament insisting that the Government of Malaysia (GoM) establish a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into the nineties forex scandal. He repeatedly accused the GoM under Mahathir’s watch of concealing losses worth RM30 billion that Bank Negara gambled away through the foreign exchange (forex) market. But when an RCI was finally called, he didn’t appear shocked one bit when it was announced that the losses were actually worth RM31.5 billion, an almost exact match to the RM30 billion he approximated some 20 years earlier.
He, too, went mum.
And Ramkarpal?
Oh yes, let’s not forget the son of the late Karpal Singh, who, many a lawyer would tell you, was the guiding pillar behind the many cases his father fought in the later years. Karpal was adamant that Mahathir was a crook who needed to answer for his crimes. Today, not only does Karpal’s son share a stage with that crook, he never once expressed shock when it was proven that Mahathir lied about the United States (US) contacting him and telling him that Equanimity was purchased using funds stolen from 1MDB, and as such, belonged to Malaysia.
Mahathir was challenged to prove what he said was the truth. He failed the challenge. Nobody in Pakatan seemed shocked about it
But yesterday, everyone was shocked.
The MACC expressed shock. Ramkarpal expressed shock. Even Lim Guan Eng expressed shock. Mahathir, who twisted the arms of judiciary back in the eighties, himself expressed ‘shock’ that Kit Siang’s son was acquitted of corruption charges by the Penang High Court. But it didn’t seem to shock him one bit that the acquittal came days after Tommy Thomas displayed a strong streak of filial loyalty towards the ruling Pakatan Harapan.
Yes Tommy, the man who was appointed Attorney-General (AG) by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on Mahathir’s advice. On the 25th of August 2018, the AG told Malaysians to manage their expectations amid the hue and cry over Pakatan’s failure to deliver on its manifesto pledges. His partiality in favour of the ruling coalition smothered his reputation further in ambiguity following the unmistakable prejudice he displayed in 2016. Back then, Tommy concluded in an article published by Malaysiakini that Najib was guilty of having taken money from 1MDB despite the case not having been tried in any court of law.
It is a wonder Mahathir found him fit to be the AG.
It is an even bigger wonder that Ramkarpal wasn’t shocked when Tommy appeared as lead prosecutor on the 4th of July 2018. On that day, Najib was produced at the Kuala Lumpur High Court by the MACC to enter his plea on corruption charges. One would have expected the ever so righteous Ramkarpal to immediately point out the element of conflict that existed in Tommy’s appearance and question the AG on his comprehension of law. But not only did the son of Karpal remain silent, so did Kit Siang, who, in the eighties and nineties, would have been the first to open his mouth and demand that the AG be sacked.
And today, it is Tommy’s Chambers that withdrew its case against Kit Siang’s son. Ramkarpal should immediately have thrown down the gauntlet and declared that “enough is enough,” that our system of justice is “crumbling like a cookie.” He should have pointed out that the AGC was smothered in ambiguity from the moment Tommy was appointed AG to the moment his Chambers withdrew the case. Instead, he trained his guns at the MACC (READ HERE) in what appeared to be a clever attempt to shift the spotlight away from the AG. Seriously, who the heck cares about the MACC?
Was it not the AGC that ultimately withdrew its case against Lim?
