Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir’s announcement this week that the government will look into setting up a Special High Court and a Special Appeals Court for corruption had been broadly welcome, including Associate Professor Dr. Shmarahayu Abd Aziz, an expert in the constitution.
Malaysia and the whole world had been waiting with bated breaths for the trial of the century involving the ex Prime Minister Najib and his wife Rosmah since the change of the government. Billions of money, mind-numbing number of designer handbags jaw-dropping extravagance of diamond jewelleries, properties, super-yachts, art collection and casino gambling sprees had all been meticulously documented in a few best sellers now. However, the ending of the saga, the final outcome and conviction of the central character MO1 and his wife cannot be written because the trials are yet to begin.
The people of Malaysia are losing patience. The rest of the world are also wondering when the case will eventually go to trial. The defence lawyer had deployed every possible means at their disposal to delay the trials, much to the chagrin of everybody concerned. The postponement of the trial that was due on 12/02/2019 was widely reported around the world. Such was the eagerness of the attention on the 1MDB saga. Subsequently a “dog” of the defence lawyer also managed to stop the trial from proceeding. These incidences clearly showed the utter abuse of the legal process by the defense lawyers who could easily exploit and manipulate rules and regulations to their advantage. On the reverse, the authority and the credibility of the prosecution is being chipped away slowly.
As the consequence, Najib had been so emboldened by the fact that he may never go to jail. He felt no shame or regret and even made popular his rallying cry, “Apa Malu Bossku!”. The jail and disgrace are the last things on his mind now when he goes on the charm offensives to regain power in 2023. As perverted as it could be, Malaysians had started to follow him on the social media as he appeared to have performed the ultimate Houdini’s escape from jail. He seems to be coming out totally unscathed from the strong arms of laws despite causing the biggest financial scandal the world had ever seen.
His miraculous transformation has had a very frightening effect for the country. Now all the corrupted officers and politicians are breathing sighs of relief. Courts are there but not for them. Even if they were caught with an unimaginable amount of cash in your house or bank account, they can employ the best lawyers available out there, and they can escape justice easily for a very long time. They may even turn the table on the government themselves. If they were really convicted and given 30 year jail-term, they could be so old that they may end up spending only less than 10 years behind bars. Now those who should be running for covers are calmly planning their returns to power. There is nothing to lose, nothing to be fear, and nothing to be ashamed of. What was shocking was our university students were even unashamedly organizing events to “Meet the Boss”.
We know Malaysia has problems with dealing with a huge number of corruption cases out there. Last year Finance Minister announced 18.5% increase in allocation in budget 2019 for MACC to RM286.8 million from the year before. The government also allowed for MACC staffing to be increased by 100 personnel. Prime Minister had also launched the National Anti-Corruption Plan (NACP) on January 29. More cases are expected to be hauled up to court. Already Najib has 42 counts of charges, Zahid has 45 charges, Rosmah has 17 charges, Abdul Azeez has 12 charges, Isa Samad has 10 charges, and the list goes on and on.
So if Najib alone takes four to five years to have any hope completing even the initial charges, it may take more than 10 years for the huge number of corruption cases of the BN era to be cleared. Many evidences and witnesses could be lost and cases would be acquitted. The guilty wrongdoers may have even passed away without ever punished. Many courageous Malaysians who voted for change may not live to see justice done. The worst outcome is when all these cases are dismissed with another change of the government. Unless there is total independence of the judiciaries with absolute freedom from political interference in the future.
As we now have an independent MACC beefed up to implement the National Anti-Corruption Plan, it is only proper that there should be a Special High Court and a Special Appeals Court to expedite all the cases. Corruption is the mother of all government evils and must be tackled with the utmost priorities. Justice must be robust but swift. The judge should not be easily compromised. Ridiculous excuses and requests to postpone scheduled proceedings would be rejected. If necessary, immediate medical attention can be requested to treat the “painful injured hand” of the tough talking lawyer in the courtroom.
In summary, the people of Malaysia want to see strictest actions taken as swiftly as possible without denying the accused their fair hearings. Justice delayed could be justice denied. Malaysian people wish to see the corrupted behind bars and will give the government their utmost supports to set up the proposed special courts. The shameless thieves should now regret ever stolen people’s money. A special court is a must in our nation’s battle to eliminate corruption altogether.