by Aasil Ahmad
Malaysia's former prime minister Anwar Ibrahim was the subject of politically-motivated legal persecution in 1988. Is the same happening again? Aasil Ahmad, a freelance writer, contributes this guest blog.
Anwar Ibrahim, the former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister who spent six-years in solitary confinement on trumped-up charges of corruption, has found himself in the eye of another storm brewing around allegations of corruption in Malaysia's government.
On September 19 Mr. Anwar released a videotape recording from 2002 showing a prominent Malaysian lawyer VK Lingam having a telephone conversation with a senior judge, Ahmed Fairuz, about the appointment of friendly judges to the bench. Soon after the conversation Fairuz became Chief Justice of the Federal Court. Also implicated in the conversation were other judges, a prominent businessmen with close ties to the Prime Minister, cabinet members, and the former Prime Minister himself.
Lately, Malaysia's judiciary has not won any awards for its independence and integrity. In fact since the Judicial Crisis of 1988 it has performed poorly enough that multinational corporations operating in Malaysia frequently chose to litigate grievances in Singapore or Hong Kong, knowing that the deck is stacked against them in Kuala Lumpur.
So it is not entirely surprising that instead of suspending the Chief Justice while an investigation into the recording is conducted, the Prime Minister is actually pushing for an extension of his contract for six more months.
Meanwhile, the Anti Corruption Agency has focused its investigation on verifying the authenticity of the videotape, which interestingly enough has yet to be challenged by any of the individuals mentioned or depicted in it. VK Lingam and Ahmed Fairuz have been conspicuously silent since September 19th.
Mr. Anwar has kept the identity of the source under wraps until such time that that person's safety can be guaranteed, or an independent Royal Commission is established to properly investigate the allegations of misconduct raised by the videotape.
Anwar Ibrahim's op-ed in the Wall Street Journal on October 22 shows that the investigation has run amok. There is a clear attempt to kill the story in the local media and to attack the whistleblowers.
The Anti Corruption Agency was supposed to meet Mr. Anwar at his office outside Kuala Lumpur on October 25th to collect another piece of evidence in their investigation into the videotape's authenticity. But, five minutes after they were supposed to arrive they called to say they are canceling the appointment. When asked what to do with the evidence, Anwar was told to "keep it" until further notice. So today it is not exactly a surprise that the ACA has given indication it may soon charge him for failing to produce evidence requested from him.
In 1998 Mr. Anwar was dragged into a trial and convicted for ludicrous charges for which no credible evidence was produced. History seems to be repeating itself.
