Will BN risk making Guan Eng a martyr?
A wrong move will cause a deeper entrenchment of anti-BN sentiment among followers of the opposition.
Scott Ng, Free Malaysia Today
The sudden arrest and prosecution of Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has caused an uproar among supporters of the opposition. The corruption charges brought against Guan Eng were the culmination of months of cat and mouse games over his purchase of a bungalow. It’s one of the biggest MACC arrests to date.
The manner in which Guan Eng was arrested – by no less than a tactical squad moving into a building as if to apprehend an armed criminal – has raised hackles and eyebrows. It is seen as an uncalled for show of force by the Barisan Nasional government against the opposition.
It is hard to deny that the way Guan Eng was whisked away from his office was oppressive, and perhaps intended to give the impression to the public that his crime was totally abominable, though months of back-and-forth accusations and investigations have yielded nothing but a slightly fishy smell, as opposed to the rotting compost heap that would be found if some other politicians were investigated.
The Penang state government has been declared one of the cleanest administrations in Malaysia, and for its head to be arrested over corruption charges is indeed shocking. But all this is happening against the narrative that GE14 is looming and that BN and Prime Minister Najib Razak are more confident than ever before of their mandate, having shown total mastery of the tools left behind by Mahathir Mohamad.
Some fear this is the beginning of another Ops Lalang, but with the general election so close at hand, Najib surely wants a more positive public image than that, and this move is very likely just another piece falling into place in the run up to GE14.
