S Thayaparan
Published: Aug 25, 2025 7:00 AM
Updated: 9:21 AM
“History, in general, only informs us what bad government is.”
COMMENT | This piece is not going to make any ad hominem against Malaysian Advancement Party (MAP) president P Waythamoorthy, who is raising the question of the prime minister’s legitimacy in court.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, in turn, has chosen to vilify Waythamoorthy by falsely claiming that he said thousands of Indians died in custody and attempted to pit Waythamoorthy against the royalty.
His stooge, DAP MP RSN Rayer, who once claimed that Anwar was like Nelson Mandela or Mahatma Gandhi, lectured Waythamoorthy not to prosecute this case in the court of public opinion when other political operatives have chimed in, demonstrating how inept Madani is.
More power to Waythamoorthy if he can game the legal system, because at the moment, all this seems performative.
Whether you believe that Anwar is a legitimate prime minister and MP depends on your belief in the legal and political system.
When it comes to voting as an indicator of credibility, for instance, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said that a Malay PM is needed because of “rural Malay constituencies, which are given disproportionate weightage in the general election”. All this gerrymandering is perfectly legal.
Published: Aug 25, 2025 7:00 AM
Updated: 9:21 AM
“History, in general, only informs us what bad government is.”
- Former US president Thomas Jefferson
COMMENT | This piece is not going to make any ad hominem against Malaysian Advancement Party (MAP) president P Waythamoorthy, who is raising the question of the prime minister’s legitimacy in court.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, in turn, has chosen to vilify Waythamoorthy by falsely claiming that he said thousands of Indians died in custody and attempted to pit Waythamoorthy against the royalty.
His stooge, DAP MP RSN Rayer, who once claimed that Anwar was like Nelson Mandela or Mahatma Gandhi, lectured Waythamoorthy not to prosecute this case in the court of public opinion when other political operatives have chimed in, demonstrating how inept Madani is.
More power to Waythamoorthy if he can game the legal system, because at the moment, all this seems performative.
Whether you believe that Anwar is a legitimate prime minister and MP depends on your belief in the legal and political system.
When it comes to voting as an indicator of credibility, for instance, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said that a Malay PM is needed because of “rural Malay constituencies, which are given disproportionate weightage in the general election”. All this gerrymandering is perfectly legal.
Forget about the royal pardon for a moment and what it can or cannot do. Think back to the days when Anwar and the opposition were targets of the state using the justice system.
In all those sodomy and corruption trials instigated by various prime ministers, the constant refrain from Anwar, his allies, and credible foreign and local legal experts was that the state dishonestly used the legal system to persecute a political opponent.
Abusing the laws
In 2009, there was the Perak constitutional crisis, another example of legal legerdemain and outright political thuggery.
Opposition stalwart Lim Kit Siang described the situation outside the state assembly as a warzone. Numerous opposition leaders and activists were arrested. Anwar reiterated that the charges against him were politically motivated.
What we are dealing with here is how the law was used corruptly to bring down an opposition leader by various Umno prime ministers and their lackeys.
Now, if the state dishonestly goes after a person and finds him or her guilty, should it really matter what a royal pardon does and does not do? This is about the actions of the state and not the innocence or legal standing of that person.
The royal pardon, to my mind, was just a move to absolve the state of what it did rather than wipe the slate clean because the slate was clean if not for the dirt thrown by the state.
Now, of course, this line of thinking does not reflect the legalese of this whole issue, but this is a point that rational people should consider.
Unless, of course, you believe the political and legal system is credible in this country. Think about the political machinations behind former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak's partial pardon to understand why this all means bupkis.
This is also about the judiciary. By his actions, the prime minister has brought the judiciary’s credibility into question, like many of his predecessors. So, anything they decide on this issue would be suspect as it was when he was persecuted by the state.
In 2005, the Bar Council issued a statement which discussed, among others, the political motivations that could be behind the legal decisions in Anwar’s sodomy case.
Besides pointing out all the factual malfeasances surrounding the state’s case, the Bar Council statement also noted this on the Federal court’s decision – “The Federal Court decision to acquit was, with respect, correct. But it is arguable that the underlying motivation for the decision is not purely ‘legal’.”
Anwar believes court decisions are “views” and not judgments binding on the government and pits institutions against each other, even to the extent of dragging the royal institution to support his argument.
This is evident when Putrajaya decided to file an appeal against a Court of Appeal ruling which deemed the terms "offensive" and "annoy" in the earlier version of Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 (CMA) as unconstitutional.
All this is in stark contrast to what he has said when galvanising public support for reforms, which is merely par for the course for the men and women from Madani.
The DNAA
When it comes to political persecutions, remember that Anwar, in justifying the discharge not amounting to acquittal (DNAA) of his number two, advanced the narrative that this was partly a political persecution by Mahathir and claimed that the Sabah corruption scandal is merely hearsay.
This has never been about the law, either when Anwar was persecuted or now when he is in power. This has always been about how the state chooses to persecute its political opponents or safeguard its political allies.
In the Madani context, the legal issues inflicted on Yusof Rawther are an example of this and of course, the wilful silence of the corrupt personalities in Sabah. This is the definition of rule by law rather than the rule of law.
Yusoff Rawther
Anwar is as legitimate a prime minister and member of Dewan Rakyat as this system allows.
He is as legitimate as any of the race hustlers, hypocrites, charlatans, theocrats, sycophants, misogynists, kleptocrats and the few honest political actors that make up Parliament, that a gerrymandered political map, government-influenced electoral commission and compromised legal system, organised around ethnocentric policy and political parties, allows.
What makes Anwar and his acolytes’ behaviour abhorrent is the fact that, having been on the receiving end of a system that demonises political opposition and disenfranchises the rakyat, they choose to replicate and enable that system.
Prominent US civil rights movement leader Martin Luther King Jr said: "We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”
When it comes to Anwar and Madani, I accept the first part.
S THAYAPARAN is commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy. Fīat jūstitia ruat cælum - “Let justice be done though the heavens fall.”
Anwar is as legitimate a prime minister and member of Dewan Rakyat as this system allows.
He is as legitimate as any of the race hustlers, hypocrites, charlatans, theocrats, sycophants, misogynists, kleptocrats and the few honest political actors that make up Parliament, that a gerrymandered political map, government-influenced electoral commission and compromised legal system, organised around ethnocentric policy and political parties, allows.
What makes Anwar and his acolytes’ behaviour abhorrent is the fact that, having been on the receiving end of a system that demonises political opposition and disenfranchises the rakyat, they choose to replicate and enable that system.
Prominent US civil rights movement leader Martin Luther King Jr said: "We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”
When it comes to Anwar and Madani, I accept the first part.
S THAYAPARAN is commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy. Fīat jūstitia ruat cælum - “Let justice be done though the heavens fall.”
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