Anwar Hopeful, UMNO Fearful

Anwar Ibrahim and his family are hopeful. They have petitioned the King for clemency.

The King is the fountainhead of justice. He must be free from petty considerations. Such as being reminded that Anwar is not pro King and Monarchy. UMNO leaders in the past have also run down the monarchy.

The UMNO people are fearful. They fear that the King may grant clemency to Anwar. So they have come out with some horrific warnings. A pardon would open the floodgates to many other petitions for pardon.

But the granting of pardon is the prerogative of the King. It’s a privilege enjoyed only by the King and at state level, by the Kings of those states. Saying it’s the prerogative of the King means the King is the reservoir of mercy.

The idea that a King is the reservoir of mercy directs the King to consider all relevant considerations to actually grant mercy. The King must consider all the reasons to grant mercy against the reasons for not granting. It also means the King need not consider the verdict of the Courts. He is independent of them.

The possibility of the King actually granting mercy casts fears deep in the minds of those people who hate Anwar.

But those people pressing for the refusal for pardon are actually saying to the King- don’t mess with the conviction by the court. They are actually saying the King has no power to alter the decision of the courts. I think this is a serious challenge to the prerogatives of the King. These are attacks on the privileges provided for by our constitution to the King.

Let the King decide what is best. By submitting the appeal, Anwar and his family are accepting that his chances of getting a pardon are 50/50. He and the family are also taking risks- if he fails to secure it, it will not be opened for him to say the king is unjust. That would be politically suicidal.

Some people like to show they are more pious and god fearing than others. It is a badge of pomposity and even arrogance. They then start judging others with reference to their own personalised moral standards. They intercede on God’s behalf. We have so many behaving like omniscient moral busybodies.

But probably more people ignore these moral busybodies. The contention of so many people is, Anwar’s punishers have managed to convince only the 5 sitting judges. That is in the legal court.

In the court of public opinion, the verdict is seen as flawed because to them, there are many reasonable doubts.

The UMNO leaders know this. They must break the spirits of the juries in the court of public opinion. That is why, UMNO is not angry that its counsel, Shafee Abdullah is going around doing a roadshow. The government takes us as fools if they say UMNO is not behind the roadshows.

They need a win in the court of public opinion because now, the people will judge them. Judgement by the people to UMNO, which forms the government is far more important than the judgement of 5 robed men in the Palace of Justice.

As to the moral pontiffs, they go around the country, damning Anwar and insisting that he must be punished for the crime for which he has been convicted. And because they intercede on God’s behalf, they precede the Agong by insisting Anwar should not be pardoned.

We don’t know how the King will decide. Or when he will decide.

Anwar’s takes a risk of his plea for mercy being rejected. That indicates Anwar is ready to accept closure on his case- at least until he hopes a new government comes into power. If the plea is rejected, Anwar will remain a guest at Sungai Buloh Hilton for the duration of his sentence.

Oh- Anwar cannot petition the King because Anwar dislikes the monarchy.

It does not matter if Anwar is liked by the monarchs or he on his part likes or dislikes the Monarchy. We know he has crossed swords with some of them during the course of his career. The King as current leader of the Malaysian Monarchs cannot be infected with these subjective feelings. The King is an institution which is impersonal, unmoved by petty considerations. He is the fountainhead of justice. He is positioned thus in our Constitution.

It’s beyond admission of guilt now. You and I may think that way- his plea  is an admission of guilt. As Zaid Ibrahim and others say- this is incorrect thinking and it’s not straight thinking. We are punch-drunk. The government has hit our heads so many times.

Anwar and family believed they have been wronged despite the verdict and is now petitioning the Agong based on the belief he has been wronged. The family has listed down various reasons to support the belief.

The other side are saying that Anwar has done a most heinous of crime such that granting clemency to it, would open the floodgates to every sodomite, fornicator, and paedophiliac lunatics scrambling to gain royal pardon. You can almost feel a blood lust in their insistence.

Well, to these self-appointed omnipotent moral pontiffs- I shall say Anwar isn’t any tom dick and harry. He has become author to this cause celebre for the singular fact that his name is Awnar Ibrahim, de factor leader of PKR, leader of the opposition, former deputy president of UMNO and former deputy minister. It’s because his name is Anwar Ibrahim.

Anwar’s latest action, executed through members of his family has succeeded in eliciting some of the most comical of responses. One person said that if he were the Raja, he will not grant clemency. No one is stopping this chap to declare himself raja- Raja Kapoor, Raja Kelawar or Raja Lekok- the choice is his.

The UMNO man who lost in Batu Pahat shows to all of us especially to UMNO members, why he got on the toes of the Ruler of Johore. The chap said- Arguing that a “sodomite” seeking a royal pardon would set a bad precedent, especially if he is indeed pardoned, Puad added, “After this, every rapist and sodomite will also apply for a pardon.” See his remarks here.

He is preceding the Agong himself. The teaspoon acts bigger than the ladle. The Agong has not even commanded the presence of a pardons board, this chap has issued edicts. Now we know why, the Johore Palace wanted him to be replaced as MP for Batu Pahat.

The man from Tanjung Karang Selangor is his usual combative self-describing Anwar as bacul. That’s equivalent to a spineless coward in English.

I am not going to associate this move as an out of the box thinking by Anwar in prison- he is more concerned about his back pains and mosquitoes. Rather, this move is the result of intense introspection by members of his family to which Anwar despite telling me a month ago, that he doesn’t care, has finally gave in to the persuasions of family members. He would like to enjoy his time as grandfather to his grandchildren.

It’s a straightforward move to secure clemency and pardon from the Agong as the fountainhead of justice. The basis of support from the others outside his immediate family circle, is to insist and maintain Anwar Ibrahim is a prisoner of conscience and that his second round of prosecution, as in the first one- was politically motivated.

Speak Up and Speak Out

An NGO calling itself Pemantau Media Sosial Pasukan Semut Malaysia aka SEMUT has made a police report against an article I wrote recently. The action was reported here and here.

It’s not easy to be an organisation to survey the blogging landscape, reading and identifying articles that offend the political sensibilities of the political masters. Imagine the intellectual and cerebral skills, wisdom, temperament and dexterity required to come to a decision as to which articles and writings are to be hauled up and then, belabour the already stretched and extended resources of our law enforcing agencies.

What else can you describe the action taken by this omnipotent and omniscient NGO- COMMANDING the police to investigate the said article and countless other articles by many others and try to pigeonhole them under various yet-to-be identified headings of legal wrongs?

Awesomely imbecilic.  It’s akin to shoot first, justify later.

It’s tiresome to even narrate it!

My article was said to incite the people to hate the government. The complainants also said I advocated street protests. The complainants asked the police to investigate and analyse the said offending article.

Justeru kami memohon pihak polis menyiasat artikel ini di bawah mana-mana peraturan yang berkenaan selaras dengan kedaulatan undang-undang serta keluhuran perlembagaan demokrasi berparlimen negara di bawah naungan Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong

Fuuh- what a mouthful. Asking the police to investigate the article under any rules and laws. Polis takde kerja lain kah depa ingat. Asyik nak menganalisa blog, tweeter dan facebook.

Lucky I don’t operate tweeter and facebook. Tried tweetering but found it too taxing. Gave it up a long time ago. Facebook?  Gave up also.

I ended the article by saying that once we have federal power we don’t need the King to free Anwar.

The chief complainant, a chap by the name of Zaparudin looks bright enough to understand the article which was written in English. Moreover, if he has gone through our ‘world class’ education system and knows a thing or two, he will also understand what I meant when I said, once we have federal power, we don’t need the King to free Anwar. So I don’t have to explain that to him.

We shan’t even broach the subject of the freedom of speech. We are only exercising our inalienable right to speak out and speak up, offering fair comments on the burning issues of the day. All within the law of course.

Now, if the way we deliver our articulation, offends some GOONS- Guardians Of OUR Nation’s Soul, we are afraid, we can’t offer them our apologies.

The Black and White Minstrel Show -2

 Nothing like a short sex story to spice it up.

No one should expect PM Najib to step in and stop KJ and Shafee Abdulah from inflicting the finishing touch on Anwar. KJ and Shafee have efficiency, competence and more importantly, an enabling structure- full use of government power. 

Najib completes the triumvirate of evil by offering governmental power. In an un-Clausewitzian way, politics is the extension of the legal war by another means.

So why should Najib step in to stop the destruction of Anwar?

Isn’t this the objective all along because to Najib and BN, Anwar stands in their way to domination? The objective is to cut off Anwar from feeding off the Malay sentimentalism over emotions such as loyalty, kind-heartedness, chivalry over a defeated opponent. 

Many Malays attach a sense of sad kindness to Anwar despite alleged personal imperfections.  That poses a danger to UMNO.

Malays must have none of those. Malays must develop values such as efficiency, ruthlessness and competence. How to deal with the Chinese if Malays are soft and sentimental? Already the UMNO hoi poloi are regarded as useful idiots; things cannot progress if they and the Malays are also sentimental fools.

Our response to what KJ and Shafee and UMNO are doing, should not be couched at all in the language of a supplicant. Shafee says he is willing to take oath in the mosque or even the Kaabah affirming his belief after studying the legal documents. That Anwar is guilty. No one can fault him if he stands before the Kaabah proclaiming that based on the documents he has, he believed.

His belief is grounded on the knowledge in his possession and he does not care about extraneous considerations. Nobody can fault if he honestly believed.

His belief must be demolished by an equal belief by the lawyers defending Anwar going around and rebutting point by point what Shafee says.

Belief vs belief.

The KJ-Shafee roadshow gives Pakatan a reason to offer a syllabus about the tyranny, governmental dishonesty, corruption for people to judge. KJ and Shafee has only a chapter to offer.

Yesterday, Shafee Abdullah spends time with matronly looking wanita UMNO continuing his triumphalism and bragging rights. Needless to say Shafee talks to them about Anwar’s Kamasutraic actions eliciting obvious passion-stirring reactions among the spirit willing, flesh is weak wanita UMNO.

For a brief moment Shafee Abdullah did a great service to most of the women assembled in Putrajaya- giving them a chance to mentally relive a previous active sex life- or perhaps still is. On hand to cheerlead Shafee on is his 4^th College UM mate and Law course mate, Shahrizat Jalil.

KJ on the other hand is motivated by his political ambitions and eagerness to establish pole position in the pecking order; his behaviour will not go unnoticed by the others.

Those who wish Najib will step in, are attributing too much finesse beyond what the man deserves. The mark of the man is, he looks after his interest first and foremost by sowing seeds of dissension among UMNO members. That is basically an extension of how he operates as division head in UMNO Pekan; let all the other positions below him be contested and battled, as long as his own position as division head is untouched. It is his birth right.

Tun Daim recently told me, UMNO will find its own level. That is, after the dust has settled, a leader naturally emerges. But before that happens, UMNO will sink to its own level of meanness.

The party is divided between those who think enough has been done to Anwar and those who think Anwar must be utterly humiliated and the family destroyed.

We must not stop KJ and company from going around. We must stop being a supplicant.