Anwar: No need to take action against Dr Mahathir

PETALING JAYA: Pakatan Rakyat (PR) de facto leader and former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said it was not necessary to take any action against Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad based on the findings of the Royal Commission on the Lingam video tape.

He said Dr Mahathir could be questioned for clarification that would be helpful in enlightening circumstances surrounding the matter.

“But I do not see it necessary to take action against him. That is the personal Anwar view, not the party view,” he said.

Anwar said that on a personal level, he held no malice against Dr Mahathir and wished the former premier well.

Commenting on the Royal Commission’s report that had been submitted to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Anwar said the report suggested that Dr Mahathir was not a credible witness and was probably not telling the truth.

“It is up to the administration to act upon the report. It is important that he (Dr Mahathir) should show restraint and be remorseful because the public are now aware and the report will be made available soon.

“People are cynical but I have some sympathy for him,” he said.

Anwar’s stand on Dr Mahathir regarding this issue appears to have contradicted the statement he read out earlier pertaining to the Royal Commission’s report. While welcoming the submission of the report, he had called for its full disclosure to the Malaysian public and for the people implicated be investigated and prosecuted.

“If Prime Minister (Datuk Seri) Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is serious about judicial reform, then he should take this report to its logical culmination which is the investigation and prosecution of those whom the report deems to have deviated the course of justice.

“We must also ask what the import of the Royal Commission’s findings are with respect to the unjust prosecutions and convictions in cases that fell within the gravitational field of the inquiry conducted by this Commission,” he said.

Anwar said it was critical that adequate measures are taken to restore the independence of the judiciary, and that a half-hearted attempt at restoration would be as unsatisfactory as no restoration at all.

“Abdullah’s umpteen pronouncements on the judiciary will go to waste if not acted upon. We can’t be just talking about the Lingam case, there are thousands of cases that are decided purely on paper instruction,” he said.

Commenting on the Lingam video issue, Anwar said there were serious allegations that there was a conspiracy to fix cases and judicial appointments. He added that the individuals, apart from V K Lingam and former chief justice Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim, named in the video must be investigated.

by Surin Murugiah
source: The Edge Daily