KUALA LUMPUR – “Pay your dues, isn’t it? If we want to pardon, they have to go through the process, he has to go inside first.”
These are the exact words uttered by Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan in an interview by Asia Times, whose reporting on what he said was heavily disputed by the Umno deputy president.
The news agency had reported Mohamad, popularly known as Tok Mat, as saying that former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak should go to jail for his supposed part in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal.
Mohamad has since refuted this. “That is inaccurate. What I said was that Najib must get a fair trial,” he had said to The Vibes.
“If he (Najib) is found guilty, then he is guilty, but he must be judged fairly,” he said in his denial.
In an unprecedented move, the journalist who conducted the interview and co-authored the report, Nick Kochan, released the full audio file of his conversation with Mohamad, proposing that readers judge what was really said for themselves.
For better context, this is the verbatim transcript of the contentious part of the interview:
Kochan: Will you be sorry if Mr Najib goes to jail?
Mohamad: Of course as a friend I feel sorry, but everybody has to go, you have to face whatever.
Kochan: Pay your dues?
Mohamad: Pay your dues, isn’t it? If we want to pardon, they have to go through the process, he has to go inside first.
(The above line was quoted by Asia Times as follows: “Everybody has to pay their dues. But if we want to pardon, he (Najib) has to go through the process. He’ll have to go inside first.”)
You cannot pardon him before he…what do you call, before you go through the process, you know? That is wrong, that is absolutely wrong.
Kochan: To be pardoned without the process?
Mohamad: Yes.
Based on the above, it is likely that there was a misunderstanding due to the casual manner in which the comments were exchanged in the interview.
Mohamad seems to be explaining the pardon process in general, which requires a person to be convicted and incarcerated before he or she can be granted a pardon – rather than stating that Najib should be jailed outright.
He remarks that the due process for a pardon cannot be breached by anyone, including Najib, arguing that everyone has to go through the proper process and “pay their dues”.
The interviewer, in this case, was probably handicapped in comprehending Mohamad’s articulation on the pardon process. With no further clarification offered, he may have also been hampered by his lack of familiarity with the subject matter.
To Kochan’s credit, he gave Mohamad a platform to air his views.
The Asia Times report earlier this week was titled “Umno’s No 2 thinks Najib should go to jail”.
It quoted Mohamad as saying that the root of the nation’s troubling financial situation stemmed from Umno – primarily under the tenure of Najib as president – failing to “tell the truth” on 1MDB.
He was also reported as saying that Najib should not expect special treatment if he is convicted.
“The court is the place where you can prove whether you’re innocent or not. He didn’t prove it. He couldn’t prove it.
“Everybody has to pay their dues. But if we want to pardon, he (Najib) has to go through the process…He’ll have to go inside first,” Mohamad was quoted as saying.
Mohamad later clarified that Najib, like any other Malaysian, is accorded the right to be judged fairly within the justice system and must go through the process to prove his innocence. – The Vibes, July 7, 2022
