Najib’s SRC Case Should Be Put Off Until Media Cools

Najib’s SRC Case Should Be Put Off Until Media Cools

There are numerous issues in law which may further bog down former premier Najib Razak's SRC appeal

Media Acting As Judge, Jury And Hangman On Najib’s SRC And Numerous Other Cases, Unprecedented In History!

There are numerous issues in law which may further bog down former Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s RM42m SRC Appeal in the Federal Court.

Under the rule of law for example, the basis of the Constitution, the Federal Court cannot insist that Najib’s new legal team must proceed with the Appeal on Aug 15. That’s tantamount to passing a Decree.

Based on the Defence Team’s own words in court, they are not ready. They are confident that they will be ready when the time comes.

Lawyers, as officers of the court, cannot mislead the Bench. It doesn’t happen “even if it happens” (allegedly).

There’s no reason for the Federal Court to deny an Application by the Defence Team. They want the present dates in court vacated and new dates set up during case mention for case directions and case management. See here.

The court had no reasons to deny the Application to put off the case until the Defence Team was well and truly ready. There can be no rush to judgment.

Those in the know estimate that the legal team will take at least six months to get ready. This is reasonable considering that the case has been going on since 2018/2019 when the Prosecution rushed to court in the wake of the GE14 general election on Wed 9 May 2018.

There must be enough time for the Defence Team to mull over the case, and connect the dots for perfection in writing for perfection in law. This is where QC Jonathan Laidlaw can help make a big difference for the better.

Pure Venom, Not Only With The SRC Trial

Secondly, the intensity of the pure venom in the media against Najib can only be considered unbelievable. The media, an thinking animal, can be manipulated. It’s obvious that the media was being manipulated on the Najib cases in court. See here . . .

Indeed, there’s a case for the Federal Court putting off the SRC and other Najib cases until the media intensity on them comes down to safer “radiation” levels.

The Federal Court should consider that the media has been acting as judge, jury and hangman on Najib’s numerous cases, all criminal, but where he hasn’t been accused of stealing any public money.

Thirdly, given the MACC probe against Judge Nazlan on the SRC case, the jury may still be out on whether someone or some people with deep pockets are manipulating the judiciary as well on politically sensitive cases. Let’s not go there.
Malu Apa Bossku

There are other areas as well which involve the Najib cases. Already, in a radical departure, Opposition veteran leader Lim Kit Siang has expressed willingness to work with “malu apa bossku” (no need to be ashamed boss) Najib. See here and here.

Kit Siang’s dramatic gesture on Najib will facilitate both sides of the political divide on GE15. The Federal Court can visit the Najib cases, if necessary, after the Umno party elections.

There may be other developments as well which can only affect the Najib cases.

Lim Kit Siang has called for parliamentary debate on the 1MDB phenomenon. This is possible if the Debate does not touch on cases in court, whether ongoing or put in cold storage. Speaker Azhar Harun cannot claim the Debate would be subjudice and contempt of court.

Lim Kit Siang has called for parliamentary debate on the 1MDB phenomenon, of which the SRC trial is part of. – NMH graphics by DH


In fact, the media commits subjudice and contempt of court and nothing happens to them. Trial by Media is a serious issue. It should not be allowed under the adversarial system of justice in the Commonwealth. There’s a case for the Attorney General to cite the errant media for facilitating subjudice and contempt of court i.e. pronouncing guilt.

The media fails to realise that the court of law isn’t about truth, but only about law. The court is also not about ethics, moral values, theology, sin, God and justice. The civilisational values promoted by ancient China, Hinduism and Buddhism don’t enter the picture. Civilisational values are not law.

Musa Aman

It was not so long ago that malaysiakini, for example, was fined RM500K for being party to illegalities i.e. facilitating contempt of court after former Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman was freed of 46 charges on allegedly deriving personal benefit from bribery and corruption. Musa won his freedom when he uttered “political donations”, the “magical words”, in court. He admitted that he collected RM380m in political donations. He laughed all the way to the bank. Unlike Najib, Musa never explained how the political donations were used. There was no due diligence and forensic accounting on the money trail.

Malaysia is not America where there’s not only Trial by Media, plea bargaining takes place and witnesses turn state’s evidence. All these practices are against the rule of law. It’s tantamount to acting with impunity. They have been creeping into the Malaysian system.

The parliamentary debate should not exclude the political donation phenomenon, Trial by Media and plea bargaining. That may yet set the stage for Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on the triple phenomenon viz. political donation, the related Finance Ministry owned IMDB and Trial by Media. See here . . .

The RCI will see the whole story on political donations, since independence, emerging.

At present, stories in court on the phenomenon start in the middle. The focus is on parts of the story which suits the Narrative.

Life isn’t black and white. It comes in various shades of grey. There are exceptions, qualifiers, caveats, ifs and buts. – New Malaysia Herald

About the writer: Longtime Borneo watcher Joe Fernandez keeps a keen eye on Malaysia as a legal scholar (jurist). He was formerly Chief Editor of Sabah Times. He’s not to be mistaken for a namesake previously with Daily Express. References to his blog articles can be found here.