“Anwar goes free.” Just three words, but this High Court decision made by Justice Mohamad Zabidin Mohd Diah on Jan. 9 has ominously far-reaching implications for the immediate political and economic future of our country, Malaysia.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court acquitted the former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, 64, on the charge of sodomising his former 23-year-old aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.
In discharging the 64-year-old de facto leader of the Opposition Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), Justice Mohamad Zabidin had cast doubt on the DNA evidence provided by the prosecution.
"After going through the evidence, I cannot be 100 percent certain that the evidence can be accepted as there could have been tampering. Hence, the Court is reluctant to convict on such corroboration of evidence from (Saiful) and the accused is acquitted," the Judge declared.
The decision was met by an understandingly huge sigh of relief as a reportedly 4,500-strong group of Malaysians had gathered for a mass demonstration on the day when it was popularly believed that Anwar would be found guilty and imprisoned, this disqualifying him for the second time from the political process.
Anwar, who was charged with sodomising Saiful at the Desa Damansara condominium between 3.01pm and 4.30pm on June 26, 2008, was represented by a team of lawyers led by Penang-based lawyer Karpal Singh, who is also the MP for Gelugor against outgoing solicitor-general II Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden for the prosecution.
While it is highly tempting to view this judicial decision as the ailing Malaysian judiciary trending to mend itself after the many see-saw decisions following the unprecedented dismissal of Tun Salleh Abas as the then Lord President in 1988, what is often overlooked is the almost innocent-looking two-day visit on Dec. 13 by Deputy Secretary of State William (Bill) J. Burns.
The highly-qualified Mr Burns, who met Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and Deputy Foreign Minister Kohilan Pillay as well as with civil society representatives to explore ways to expand US partnerships with Malaysia, said at the end of his visit that his visit “reflects the importance that the US places on its relationship with Malaysia as a vital partner in Southeast Asia.”
Present at the almost top-level meeting which was nonetheless given what observers said was “an unusually scanty coverage” by Malaysia’s mainstream media, were US Ambassador to Malaysia Paul W. Jones and Malaysian Ambassador to the US, Dato’ Sri Dr. Jamaludin Jarjis.
Deputy Secretary of State Burns also delivered remarks at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies on The United States, Malaysia, and the Rising Importance of the Asia-Pacific.
Observers view this meeting as neither innocent-looking nor innocent-sounding as it appeared although before his departure, Mr Burns stated, “President (Barrack) Obama, Secretary (Hilary) Clinton and I are committed to building upon our strong, cooperative relations with Malaysia and other countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
“The US seeks to work together with nations across the region to promote economic growth and security. The US and Malaysia share common interests in fostering prosperity and peace in the world on the basis of mutual interests and mutual respect.”
President Obama and Prime Minister Najib met just last month in Bali and discussed a range of important bilateral and multilateral issues facing our countries. Looking ahead, the investments we are making now will lead to further peace and prosperity for the citizens of Malaysia, the US and everyone in the Asia-Pacific region.”
Economically, this American promise made in Bali and reaffirmed in Kuala Lumpur appears to be the promise of better things to come for Malaysia whose foreign direct investment (FDI) went into negative territory after years of positive FDI, exacerbated no doubt by the strong competition posed by other countries such as China, Vietnam, Thailand and even Indonesia.
Foreign investors changed their positive and gung-ho mind on Malaysia as the country trended more and more towards the Islamic right. But with the recent American promise, the foreign investment flow is expected to pick up, thus providing more jobs for the country’s burgeoning school-leaving population.
Politically, observers said the latest Court decision on Anwar means that the coming general election which is generally expected to be as early as March may well be moved forward.
This has implications for the configuration of power in the next Parliament.
The heavily-weighted rural and predominantly Malay population is most likely to continue their support for either opposition or the ruling parties because, observers said, the present Anwar decision has not polarized the country as it was believed it would had Anwar been found guilty as charged.
This virtually means that Prime Minister Najib’s National Front coalition is more than likely to emerge triumphant, although without regaining the two-thirds majority the grand coalition had once enjoyed.
The coalition was founded in 1973 by his late father, Tun Abdul Razak, to supplant the Alliance coalition that ruled Malaysia from Independence without a break. It has a bigger base of political parties than the three-party coalition it replaced.
Malaysian journalist-turned-lawyer Stephen Tan Ban Cheng who likes to call himself an Anak Pulau Pinang (or Son of Penang) has run a small practice in his tourist paradise home state for the last 11 years.
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