SEVERAL news reports yesterday highlighted the case of an unemployed man facing up to 10 years imprisonment for stealing a mere RM22 from a mosque’s tabung in Kuala Terengganu.
This is in striking contrast to the discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) granted to Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, declared Sasha Lyna Abdul Latif, the Legal and Constitutional Bureau deputy chairman of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu)
Sasha said: “This decision comes upon the request of the prosecution itself. This is despite a prima facie case being proven against the deputy prime minister.
“This brings the justice system into utter disrepute. Why is there a difference in treatment between the ordinary unemployed citizen and the deputy prime minister?
“Under our Constitution, the justice system must be scrupulously fair and equal to all, without any regard to the status of the accused.
“Article 8 of the Constitution states that all persons are equal in Malaysia, whether a poor man or a billionaire or a deputy prime minister.
“Yet, the public can see that under the current administration, this sacrosanct principle has been ignored. How will the people have any regard or respect for our laws and for the justice system in these circumstances?”
The Bersatu leader added that it would have been acceptable – and perhaps fair – if the AG had used his discretion not to charge a poor man who stole a meagre sum, without of course condoning the act of law.
The man could have been let off with a warning. Yet the AG saw fit to proceed with the RM 22 theft case, but he went on to discontinue the case against the DPM involving millions of ringgit.
“This disparity exposes our justice system to public disgust and ridicule, and a total loss of credibility. All this after just nine months of the Pakatan Harapan-Barisan Nasional administration.
“It is also appalling that the mosque, the police and the prosecution went ahead to pursue this case in court,” Sasha said.
The Bersatu leader added that it would have been appropriate and compassionate to refer the matter to Zakat Terengganu.
A helping hand is needed for a desperate person who had to resort to stealing from a mosque’s tabung, rather than to humiliate him and punish him like a major criminal, she said.
This matter was televised nationally. So, where was the compassion in this case, she asked.
Sasha added that public confidence in the nation and the law can be a fragile thing. Once shattered, it is difficult to fix again.
“If the Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim administration continues on this path, we are well on the way to becoming a failed state, with one rule for the powerful and a different one for the poor and dispossessed.” – The Vibes, September 8, 2023
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