Lim Guan Eng pleads guilty to charges of corruption
The Third Force
On the 29th of June 2016, officers from the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) accompanied enforcement officials with the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) to serve Guan Eng a warrant of arrest. The very next morning, the authorities produced him to the Penang High Court to face two charges of corruption. On both counts, Guan Eng pleaded not guilty.
Both these charges related to a bungalow-for-land scam controversy that was all the news for quite a while. Articles that swarmed through the internet since the issue first cropped up bore enough evidence to suggest that the CM had knowingly engaged in unlawful and criminal acts.
However, it is neither my place nor yours or even that of the media to judge if Guan Eng is guilty or otherwise. That is why we have the courtroom, a place in which we burn away irrelevancies until we are left with a pure product – the truth – for all time. By virtue of this reasoning, it is now for the court to decide if Guan Eng is guilty or innocent.
Now, it would be irrational for anyone to dispute what I have just stated. More so, if the person disputing it were to be from the DAP. And that’s because the DAP has seen its leaders win court battles against persons or political parties from the ruling coalition on many occasions.
For instance, last Thursday, the Sessions Court in Penang acquitted and discharged Seri Delima assemblyman R.S.N. Rayer on a charge of uttering seditious words at the Penang state assembly. Earlier in June, the same court acquitted and discharged DAP’s Ng Wei Aik on a similar charge, only this time, for making seditious remarks against Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak.
These developments speak volumes in terms of the impartiality of the Malaysian courts. Guan Eng, himself the DAP secretary-general, cannot deny that the Malaysian judiciary is fair in meting out justice. As a matter of fact, Ng’s case clearly illustrates that the Prime Minister does not wield any form of authority over the courts as the opposition would have you believe.
Yet, on the 23rd of July 2016, Guan Eng had this to say:
“Everyone knows that Lim cannot be saved. Even though Lim cannot be saved, the state can still be saved, so that is why we need the state election.”
If you were to read that statement through the lenses of the law, you would immediately realise how the CM had ‘recorded’ a guilty plea in public. In other words, Guan Eng admitted that he had engaged in criminal acts while serving as the CM. Yet, on the 30th of June 2016, Guan Eng entered a not-guilty plea at the High Court in Penang.
So Guan Eng, can you explain your ‘logic’ to us here?
I mean, what exactly is your position on charges that were read to you by the Penang High Court? Are you saying that you are guilty of having received gratification and benefits as the CM? Or are you saying that it is your prerogative to undermine the jurisdiction of the Malaysian courts, to an extent that you are entitled to enter a false plea in front of a legal authority in the house of justice?
The only other explanation would be that Guan Eng meant to say he was a victim of political prosecution, and therefore, could not be saved. If that is the case, it would augur well with what he stated in an open letter that Malaysiakini published on the 28th of July 2016, which you can read by following the link below:
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/350257
In that letter, Guan Eng spoke of a conspiracy by the ruling coalition to “finish him off by hook or by crook.” He went so far as to imply that the government had abused its power to “conduct exhaustive investigations on the Penang state government’s public works projects” with intent to incriminate him.
And that just adds more spice to what was already an act of contempt by him against the court. I mean, can Guan Eng come out to prove that the ruling coalition had in fact conspired to bring him down by hook or by crook? If he can, then why was there a need for him to stir public hatred against the ruling coalition?
Why not sue Barisan National instead? Does Guan Eng not have faith in the impartiality of our legal system, the very system that resulted in the acquittal and discharge of several DAP leaders in the past?
If he can’t prove that the ruling coalition had conspired against him, then perhaps he is not claiming to be a victim of political prosecution after all. This can only mean that Guan eng had indeed entered a guilty plea in public on the 23rd of July 2016. The onus is therefore for him to explain to us why he had entered a false plea at the High Court on the 23rd of June 2016.
Under the circumstances, can everyone now agree with me that Guan Eng had intended to demolish the prosecution’s case against him in public to undermine the authority of the court? Further to that, do you agree that he had tampered with due process for the sole purpose of giving rise to public misconception about our government and legal system?
If those were indeed his intentions, can I also say that he had resorted to such measures because he knew then as he does now that he is guilty of charges that were read to him by the High Court? Don’t blame me – I’m only responding by asking questions based on statements that Guan Eng had prejudicially issued against the ruling coalition on more than one occasion.
Do you agree with my logic, Guan Eng? Or perhaps, you can come out from your cocoon and help us understand your ‘logic’?
