KUALA LUMPUR – The full royal pardon accorded to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in May 2018 following Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) victory in the 14th general election was made of the then Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s own accord.
This was revealed by Anwar (Tambun-PH) in the Dewan Rakyat today, as he seeks to clarify questions about the events that unfolded behind the scene that led to his pardon and release from prison.
Addressing the lower house, the PH chairman clarified that although he objects to his past sentences over sodomy charges and the manner in which his cases were handled, he had never personally sought a pardon.
“Make it clear on the record in the Hansard,” he said today.
“We rejected the sentences which violated the principles of law. In the first (sodomy) case, for example, a charge was made up claiming the incident happened in a building that did not exist then, certain individuals were forced to be witnesses, and a probe was conducted even before a police report was made.”
He went on to explain that when he was serving his sentence in 2018, the then Agong, Sultan Muhammad V of Kelantan, had called him while he was at a rehabilitation centre.
“He said ‘Anwar, I would like to give you a full pardon because I have been following your case and there is a clear travesty of justice’.
“And I quote, the phrase used by the Agong was a travesty of justice. He said ‘as such, I will give you a full pardon soonest possible’.”
Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal (Machang-PN) then attempted to interject Anwar’s explanation, urging the prime minister to instead focus on today’s order of business on the Consolidated Fund (Expenditure on Account) Bill 2022.
To this, Anwar said: “I will get to that in a minute. I know my statement may be harsh to you because you (opposition) have been playing up on this. But believe me, I will only take two more minutes to explain for everyone’s benefit.”
He went on to point out that while Fayhsal may not be aware of the full situation due to him only recently joining politics, other senior PAS leaders had previously been involved in dismissing the sodomy accusation against the PKR president.
Anwar was responding to opposition leader Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin’s (Larut-PH) debate on the motion of confidence for the prime minister yesterday where he brought up a purported report by an Italian news agency titled First full-blown Homosexual Elected Prime Minister in an Islamic (Nation).
In what appears to be a sarcastic comment aimed at Anwar, Hamzah had urged the former to take action against the news agency and said the government has a responsibility to inform the world that he has received a royal pardon.
“(Anwar) should fine the publication. Do not let things get to the point where the whole world believes that (Anwar) is a raging homosexual.”
Anwar was imprisoned over sodomy charges in 1998 and again in 2015, before his pardon in 2018. – The Vibes, December 20, 2022
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