AT PRESS TIME, so to speak in the print media, the man who ruled Malaysia
with an iron fist for 22 years have still remained silent on reports
that his accumulated wealth is about US$44 billion (more than RM132
billion).
That makes him the second richest former head of government in the world.
With such a gross wealth accumulated at his disposal, it is no wonder
people like the racist Ibrahim “Perkasa” Ali and his Taliban-like
followers are blind to facts and reality.
They are willing to do whatever Mahathir Mohamad orders and Mahathir is willing to do whatever it takes to ensure multi-racial multi-religious Malaysians remain divided or disunited politically.
As long as Malaysians are divided, political manipulation and abuse of power are peanuts to Mahathir.
Mahathir blogged that giving five years to Pakatan Rakyat (PR) to rule
is dangerous because the Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN) will have no
chance to return to power.
Mahathir must think that in this 21st century, where information is
borderless in a digital world, Malaysians are country bumpkins.
After 55 years of BN (formerly Alliance Party) misrule, it is now all
open to Malaysians to make an informed decision in the next 13th General
Election.
A simple yet telling question that Malaysians must ask is: “Why is
Malaysia’s federal debt at more than RM800 billion, breaching well over
the legislated 55% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) debt ceiling?”
You must remember that Malaysia is a blessed country with vast and rich natural resources, including oil and gas.
Where have all our wealth gone to?
And Malaysia is the 27th largest oil producer in the world, rolling out 693,700 bbl/day. Only 114 countries are listed as oil producing nations as at 2009 and 2010.
But the Umno-led BN Malaysia is the only oil producing country that needs borrowings to keep the country’s administration afloat. Why is that so?
Below is a well written piece by a Utah-US-based lawyer and another comment from a Malaysia
Chronicle reader on why Malaysians’ hope for a future is to vote the
Opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) just to herald the birth of a two-party
democracy in Malaysia:
People of Malaysia vs Dr Mahathir Mohamad
Navin-Chandra Naidu
Suing Dr Mahathir Mohamad is impossible, unthinkable, undesirable,
unwise, or difficult? I pose this riddle because I know I do not know
the answer to it.
I have been advocating this for quite some time, but I don’t seem to get
anywhere. Maybe our esteemed Malaysiakini subscribers will put on their
usual thinking caps and help me understand this “problem” so that, maybe, we can get to get this man sued in a court of justice (not a court of law).
There is a great difference between a court of law and a court of justice.
Justice is a blind bat. Justice OW Holmes of the US Supreme Court once
chastised a lawyer, and told him sternly that he, the lawyer, was in a court of law, and not a court of justice.
You see, Justice Holmes was not given to philosophy of the law although
he wallowed in it. He was a practical man who knew that the law is “how
one could predict how a court would decide.” Lofty legal principles in
many courts in many countries have been abandoned in the rash search for
a political solution. The litigant does not count.
In the Malaysian context, when you walk into a court of law, it is a throw of the dice, especially after August 1988. If the judge
is learned in the law, and not given to apple-polishing his or her
political masters, the litigant has a shot at real justice. There will
be equal justice under the law.
The litigant is no better off when he gets a judge concerned about his or her pension. This is not peculiar in Malaysia only. We have a bunch of loonies assigned to the Bench here in the United States, too. One judge was so obsessed he used a penis pump under his robes when a physically attractive female prosecutor showed up in his court.
Will judges rise to the occasion?
Suing Mahathir will require several thousand Malaysians gathering together a team of pro bono publicus lawyers – lawyers willing to work for free, yours truly included, of course – to unleash a shattering legal tsunami against the former prime
minister for corrupt practices, wasting public funds with his warped
sense of largesse and bigness, and perversion of justice through his
unique cabalistic methods that resulted in the ruination of the
country’s prospects for equal opportunities for all Malaysians which is
still reverberating as a persistent and nagging reminder in the Federal
Constitution (FC) as Article 8.
The man has done more damage than anyone else in Malaysia.
The first and foremost criterion to take into account is whether our
Malaysian judges, using Article 162(6) of FC, would care to dare to bare
the truth of the citizens’ allegations against a former prime minister,
and serve as judicial referees and umpires to a genuine trial that
would make truth take centre stage instead of just proof and evidence
that our police and the Attorney-General’s Chambers are so proud and
adept at manufacturing, fabricating, altering, covering up, and
delivering as factual reality.
Malaysian judges must take up the slack and deliver judgments that can
withstand the after effects of an appeal. After all, the dreadful and
dreaded Adorna Properties ruling and decision got overruled by Tan Ying
Hong v Tan Sian San, which restored deferred indefeasibility of title
and offered Section 340 of the National Land Code 1965 a new shine and
polish.
Our appellate judges ought to hold up the scales
of justice and not be caught cheating with misapplied thumb pressure
upon these scales without checking, rechecking and cross-checking all
the facts that were submitted by the lawyers. I wonder if our Malaysian
judges conduct any independent investigations like our European
counterparts on the Bench.
After all, one cannot simply take any lawyer’s submissions for the
truth, because lawyers are not the only ones entitled to lie in court.
AG the stumbling block
Such a case involving a Muslim prime minister could be initiated in a
Syariah Court that would leave the attorney-general (AG) powerless under
Article 145(3) FC. But that is exactly what is sorely desired.
Malaysians do not relish the idea of the AG agonising on whether or not
to proffer charges against his boss.
The AG is a stumbling block. Someday, he ought to be impeached being a
federal judge and all. But that may already be happening. The burning
question is whether the Syariah Court will be willing to adjudicate The
People of Malaysia v Dr Mahathir Mohamad bin Iskandar. It ought to, especially if the defendant is a Muslim, as is the case.
At the same time, the native courts ought to file another motion against Mahathir for grabbing their lands during his 22-year watch.
The Orang Asli’s motion would be rock solid given the fact that the
United Nations Indigenous Peoples Forum’s representatives will have to
attend these lawsuits as umpires and referees to make sure no plaintiff
is forced to flee the lawsuit by the local thuggery enclaves admirably
and efficiently run by the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM).
The Aboriginal Peoples Act of 1954 together with Article 8(5)(c) of the
Federal Constitution would be a powerful combination against Mahathir in
all 18 Orang Asli Native Courts as all 18 Orang Asli tribes will be
suing the same man in 18 different Native Courts.
While the syariah and native courts effort is under way, lawsuits ought
to be filed in the High Court in Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu and
Kuching, at the same time by the natives of Sabah and Sarawak. An
all-out concerted effort to bring this man down ought to be the most
pleasurable thing any Malaysian can think or dream about.
I wallow in the fun I may have as a lawyer see true blue justice done to an arrogant man who thinks he is beyond and above the law. Mahathir probably thinks he still wields untold power and pleasure in Malaysia.
He may still enjoy a lot of power given the fact that the Ling Liong
Sik-Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) case fizzled away like a flash in a pan
without much fanfare.
Curtain time for Dr M
The task at hand is formidable amassing all the facts, details, data,
particulars, proof and evidence to succeed in bringing this puppeteer
down.
Subpoena everyone that was associated or affiliated with the man. You
can forget about a criminal case being mounted. I am talking about a
civil suit for unjust enrichment, violating the public trust, defaming
the public thinking we are a bunch of fools, and a host of suitable
causes of action, which I am sure we Malaysians will have absolutely no
difficulty in marshalling together as a must-do and can-do fun exercise.
Royal commission of inquiries (RCIs) are a waste of time. Waiting for
election results is another doleful exercise in patience with a crooked
Election Commission to contend with. Writing books, articles, essays,
ceramahs, and public debates aside, suing Mahathir is where the rubber
meets the road. It’s time for action.
Talking about making Mahathir liable is what it will take, and I hope
and pray we Malaysians can rally together and bring this suit against
Mahathir to fruition. Powerful people in historical annals could not
just get away with it. They had to pay. Some with their lives, some with
long prison terms.
I believe a well-informed citizenry, like Malaysians today, can make the
difference. The leaders of any country cannot get zilch done without
the workers putting their effort together. Mahatma Gandhi shut out and
shut down the British Empire with the simple “bandh” effort. “Shut it
down,” he instructed, and every worker, soldier, cook, errand boy,
gardener, cleaner, polisher, driver, dhobi, every other menial worker
simply shut it down.
So, my fellow Malaysians, expose the man. Let’s shut down Mahathir.
Let’s shut him up in prison. Let’s shut down his last show. It’s curtain
time.
JUDGE NAVIN-CHANDRA NAIDU is a lawyer based in Utah, United States.
Malaysiakini
No comments:
Post a Comment