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PAS : KE ARAH PEMERINTAHAN ISLAM YANG ADIL
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JUDGE ARIFFIN JAKA Jaka decided last week enough is enough with Dato'
Seri Anwar Ibrahim's defence of the sodomy charges against him. Several
witnesses -- the finance minister, Tun Daim Zainuddin; the former
minister, Tan Sri Megat Junid Megat Ayob; the deputy education minister,
Dato' Aziz Shamsuddin, amongst them -- will not now be called. The
former deputy prime minister's trial for sodomy now raises even more
doubts, and if his defence continues as now, the black eye is not on him
but on the prosecution and, by extension, his nemesis, the Prime
Minister. What forced this so dramatically is the evidence of the
now-retired director-general of the Anti-Corruption Agency then, Dato'
Shafee Yahya, which indicates the Dr Mahathir is as guilty of corruption
when he objected to ACA investigations of the then director-general of
the Economic Planning Unit and later Bank Negara Malaysia governor, Tan
Sri Abul Hassan Sulaiman, as Dato' Seri Anwar was convicted for.
He said nothing dramatic or earthshaking, but it reinforced, in the
Malay mind, of the utter uselessness of even a defence, that Dato' Seri
Anwar must endure a much longer term in jail. Dato' Shafiee, who in the
1970s was private secretary to the then prime minister, Tun Abdul Razak,
was so incensed at this "interference" he would have resigned if it had
not been for his wife, a daughter of the late Tan Sri Abdul Taib Andak
(one of his nephews is the UMNO firebrand and former cabinet minister,
Dato' Shahris Abdul Samad). His evidence is yet another unexpected
twist in this drawn-out saga that shifted attention from the court room
to the political and cultural world outside. The Malay cultural ground
is incensed. It is not Dato' Seri Anwar's guilt but the accusations
against him that takes centre stage. "The trial is no more relevant,"
said one UMNO politician over a cup of tea. "UMNO must resolve this if
it wants to survive."
Indeed, many Malays believe Dato' Seri Anwar should have refused to
defend himself, and asked, as Mr Nelson Mandela in 1964, the court to do
its worst. Especially after the earlier trial, when the prosecution
could damn him with unproven and unprovable allegations and amending the
charges at its close so that the defence could not rebut the
allegations. The trial meanders for many to believe Dato' Seri Anwar
would be convicted, with government pressures on the media to reduce its
coverage raising doubts about the fairness of the trial. But his defence
lawyers believed he had a chance, and plodded along. When the Prime
Minister resisted the subpoena served on him, and the High Court decided
he need not come, the conflict between the prosecution and the defence,
one conducting its case on what seems to the layman doubful evidence the
other to turn into a political defence, widened at cross purposes. After
allowing Dato' Seri Anwar's defence to adduce evidence of a political
conspiracy, Judge Ariffin now cuts him short.
The Prime Minister wanted Dato' Seri Anwar out of the political orbit
altogether, and warn potential challengers to his position of what
awaits them if they do. But he was egged on by those close to him.
Which is why the Prime Minister and the four close to him politically
were subpoenaed as prosecution witnesses. For the Attorney-General's
Chambers to decide on them as witnesses does suggest they had something
to offer. They were not called, and offered to the witnesses. It was
only when Dato' Seri Anwar deided to call them in that they got cold
feet. Judge Ariffin, by calling on the defence to wind up its case and
submit its case on Wednesday just leaves the impression in the public
mind that Dato' Seri Anwar could well have been right.
More important, the Anwar defence laid a trap, and an effective one at
that. If Dr Mahathir had appeared on the witness box, it strengthens
Dato' Seri Anwar. He could, from his prison cell, bring the Prime
Minister into the witness box and question him, while Dr Mahathir, to
this day, could not confront his nemesis at a forum of his choice. It
is at this point the Malay ground distanced themselves from the Prime
Minister. Whatever happens to the jailed deputy prime minister, Malay
political and cultural life insists upon resolving the "Anwar problem"
before life comes back to normal. This is the UMNO conundrum. It does
not matter, in this if Dato' Seri Anwar is convicted and jailed, or if
he is acquitted. Cutting short the trial only accelerated this. The
political and cultural problem this spewed must first be resolved.
Everything else is illusory.
M.G.G. Pillai
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