AG must clarify why Najib’s partial pardon statement bears PM Dept’s logo, not Istana Negara’s emblem
AN oddity has been detected on the letterhead of the recent media statement which unveiled a discounted or partial pardon for incarcerated former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
(Focus Malaysia) – Lawyer and human rights activist Charles Hector discovered that the former Pekan MP’s pardon statement was issued using the letterhead bearing a logo of the Prime Minister’s Department when it should have borne the emblem of the Istana Negara (National Palace) “as it is the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (YDPA) who pardons as opposed to the Pardon’s Board”.
“Compare (that) with the media statement issued by the Istana Negara when Anwar (Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) was pardoned (dated May 16, 2018). Rightfully, shouldn’t it be the Agong or the palace that issue a media statement?” Hector posed the question in his latest blog.
“It is just a media statement about the pardon but interestingly, there is no name of the person who issued the media statement on behalf of the Pardon’s Board. Is there even an urusetia or secretariat for the Pardons Board?”
Added co-founder of the NGO Malaysians Against Death Penalty & Torture (MADPET): “The Pardons Board is definitely not under the Prime Minister (PM) or a department under the PM. It is and/or ought to be independent of the PM or the executive arm of government.”
