It’s Not a Criminal Trial
Indeed, I believe the strategy by the defence team to expose the contradictions sooner rather than later actually supports my view that Anwar’s legal team also realises – and wants the whole country to see – that this is a political trial.
Written by G. Krishnan
It struck me as odd that some lawyers on the sidelines of Anwar’s trial have been dissecting Karpal’s strategy (though it’s probably the strategy of Anwar’s collective legal team) to highlight the contradiction between Saiful’s claim and the specific legal code under which Anwar is being tried.
While I happen to lean in the camp of those who think it was better to raise the contradiction in this early stage rather than just prior to the curtain coming down on the trial, I have to admit I’m one who thinks the timing of this objection is based upon strategic political considerations – and not legal ones. Therefore, the debate about Karpal’s strategy among the legal circles actually misses the central point: What is critical about Karpal’s strategy is that it’s a legal strategy deployed to expose the fact that this is a political trial.
I can see the relevance of second-guessing and debating a defense’s legal strategy in a typical criminal case. But then let’s not forget this isn’t, by any stretch of the imagination, a typical criminal case. In a political trial – and that’s what the defense is portraying it as – there is of course a lot more to it than just a legal strategy. In fact, as I’ve argued elsewhere, since nothing about the contradictions and inconsistencies in the case should really surprise us, this legal hair-splitting by lawyers from the sidelines is good banter but the legal merits – or lack thereof – really is inconsequential to the final courtroom outcome.
Indeed, I believe the strategy by the defence team to expose the contradictions sooner rather than later actually supports my view that Anwar’s legal team also realises – and wants the whole country to see – that this as a political trial. Therefore, by exposing from early on what they believe is a deck of cards stacked against them, Anwar, Karpal and the defence team hope to go on the offensive earlier rather than later and hopefully start winning in the court of public opinion by exposing the bias of the court. Of course they’re not getting any help from the mainstream media and have to rely on the wider alternative and even the international media. This approach fits with their position all along that there is a political conspiracy against Anwar and this trial is the means to short-circuit Anwar’s political comeback.
