The Missing Culprit(s) In Ahmad Zahid’s Court Case
M. Bakri Musa
October 10, 2023
Last month’s (September 4, 2023) dismissal not amounting to an acquittal (the now infamous acronym DNAA) of criminal corruption and money laundering charges related to the RM 31M Yayasan Akalbudi funds against Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi triggered a torrent of responses from local pundits, lay as well as legal. It also prompted a failed mass demonstration.
The fury was directed primarily at Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and only secondarily on the presumed flaws in the system. Zahid being Anwar’s Deputy makes the first understandable, though still misplaced. For contrast as well as perspective, note the lack of outrage when Former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin was acquitted of corruption charges involving the mega sum of RM 232.5 million.
As for the presumed flaws of the system, Malaysia remains one of the few countries that have successfully prosecuted and jailed her former Chief Executive. Same system but vastly different results. What gives?
In the conviction of former Prime Minister Najib Razak, it is well to remember that both the Attorney General (AG) Tommy Thomas and lead prosecutor, the late Gopal Sri Ram, were not career civil servants. That suggests it would be more fruitful to look not at the system rather the dramatis personae in the Zahid’s case.
With Zahid, AG Idrus Harun, now safely retired, was a local law graduate who had never spent a day of his career outside the insular civil service, typical of an affirmative action product. More significant, he requested the DNAA just days before retiring and amidst a long trial that had already consumed over 53 court days, heard from 99 witnesses, and where the judge had earlier ruled that there was prima facie (at first glance) evidence and thus ordered Zahid to enter his defense on all counts.
AG Idrus Harun’s purported reason to seek a DNAA at this late stage was, as reported by Prime Minister Anwar, “to clear his [Idrus] conscience before retiring.” I thought Idrus’s conscience was (or should have been) clear when he first filed those charges.
As for the initial lead prosecutor, Raja Rosela Toran, her courtroom performances indicated that she was not in the least intimidated by Zahid’s exalted position. Unlike Idrus Harun, Raja Rosela had opted for early retirement to enter the private sector, not typical for a product of affirmative action, further confirmed by the fact that she, again unlike Idrus Harun, was not a local law graduate.
As for the trial judge, The Honorable Collin Lawrence Sequerah, constrained in both his options and opinions, could only comment that asking for a DNAA at this late stage was but a massive waste of taxpayers’ money. Behind that legal decorum, he was in fact excoriating AG Idrus Harun.
I do not know where Judge Sequerah obtained his law qualification, but he had spent a chunk of his career in a major law firm before becoming a judge. That, together with his name, suggests he is unlikely to be a product of affirmative action.
Idris Harun’s successor as AG is one Ahmad Terrirudin Salleh, another local law graduate who had also spent his entire career in the civil service. He is also most likely an affirmative action product. As such, expect another Idrus Harun performance.
When Anwar became Prime Minister I suggested that he replace both AG Idris Harun and Chief of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission. In retrospect it was wise that Anwar did not. Imagine the uproar had an Anwar-appointed AG were to seek Zahid’s DNAA! Alas this signal observation is missed by those who claimed political interference in Zahid’s DNAA.
On the other hand had Anwar appointed another AG in the caliber of Tommy Thomas, former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin would today be in jail joining Najib. Likewise, Ahmad Zahid. Anwar would then be relieved of a major political headache, with Zahid’s deputy in UMNO, Mat Hassan, now becoming the new Deputy Prime Minister. UMNO is unlikely to leave Anwar’s coalition as UMNO leaders are now enjoying their perks.
When Anwar appointed Zahid, Anwar was aware that he (Zahid) already faced those charges. While “innocent till proven guilty” is a fine legal precept in a criminal courtroom, not so when choosing someone for positions requiring high trust. The standard there must of necessity be more stringent, as with not even a hint of impropriety. However, Malaysians in their wisdom did not give Anwar a majority mandate and thus that privilege or freedom of choice is denied him. He had to reach out to Zahid, no doubt fingers to nose. Crafting a political coalition is not for the purists or faint-hearted.
It is Anwar’s political genius that Malaysia today has a stable government. More significantly, Anwar has spared Malaysia the malignant leadership of the discredited Mahathir and his band of incompetents in PAS and Perikatan Nasional. For those now critical of Anwar, nothing focuses the mind more than to think of that alternative.
I hope Parliament’s Select Committee will grill all the major players in the Zahid case, except of course the Judge. Anwar should also seize that opportunity to replace the current AG as well as MACC Chief with competent professionals from the outside. An infusion of fresh top talent is what the nation desperately needs today.
