YOURSAY | Free Najib for 'small change'? Rakyat would rather see govt fall

YOURSAY | 'Should PM heed Zaid’s advice, we do not need courts anymore.'

Zaid urges PM to free Najib because RM42m is 'small change'

YellowMarlin8834: If this suggestion to free former premier Najib Abdul Razak because RM42 million is “small change” came from a layperson, the rakyat would deem it “silly” as it opposes law and justice.

But it came from you, Zaid Ibrahim, a person deemed to have been educated and trained in law, a noble profession.

Is Umno bigger than the many millions of rakyat who saw justice done with Najib placed behind bars?

Should Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim heed your advice, I suggest we do not need courts anymore, no point in trying the accused because at the end of the day, any fair and just judgment will be abandoned.

Putting someone in jail for stealing a few cans of milk was very trivial too. What say you, Zaid?

To save Umno or the unity government, do we need to do this? I am sure millions of us would rather be in the opposition.

I disagree: What kind of rationale is this? Is he suggesting that one should give up one's principles to stay in political power?

I suppose politics override all things. A poor person who steals (even for a tin of milk) has to go to jail but a rich and powerful man will not and should not be in jail even if he steals RM42 million.

To him, this is a small change. It is people with such unprincipled ways who cause the country to fall.

I would rather see the fall of this government than see the felon free. Yes, many of us will be in trouble with Perikatan Nasional and PAS in control. I believe good will triumph over evil in the long run.

Those who plead for the jailbird to be freed have probably benefited from him in the past. This includes Umno. Have they thought of the harm he has done to the country?

He must not be freed. Besides, he has many more trials to face. Don't the other trials matter to you?

How will investors think of this country? If you are rich and powerful, please come. You might even get away with murder.

Vijay47: To put it straight from the shoulder, Zaid, you should be ashamed of yourself.

Are these the principles that you, a so-called lawyer, are guided by when carrying out your legal profession?

Any way we slice it, you seem to have discarded every semblance of morals and justice in suggesting that Najib be freed by Anwar because the RM42 million in question is “small change”.

Of course, RM42 million is indeed small change. As a nation, we have progressed a long way, corruption and misappropriation have reached impressive heights where any politician worth his salt will not be seen delving into anything less than a couple of billions.

Are you suggesting that any illegality of RM42 million or smaller sums no longer constitutes a crime? Or that if it does, it applies only to cake-eating peasants?

You also advocate that abandonment of law and order is necessary political expedience, in this case, Anwar's survival as prime minister.

No comment on your change of tack, that you have now turned Anwar's ally, but pray tell me, learned counsel, where does one draw a line in such objectives? To begin with, is there even a line? Premiership above all else?

The third inference suggests insidiousness so cunning as to be a Brutus stab-in-the-back. You ask that Anwar “free Najib”.

You imply that a verdict and sentence imposed by the courts can be overturned by a politician to serve his own ends, offering fodder to all those who claim that Najib was not given a fair trial.

So, perhaps you are not an ally after all.

Mat M Din: Insinuating a corruption sum of RM42 million as small and Najib deserves to be set free is very disgusting. In Islam, any amount of money whether big or small, which is obtained through illicit means, is haram - forbidden.

To treat it as a minor offence or sin will encourage Muslims to indulge in corruption which has to be strongly prohibited.

It is to be understood that feeding members of our families with food purchased from illicitly earned money is just like shoving red hot ambers into their tummies. God forbid, what an agony to undergo.

It is the duty of every parent to instil into the minds of young children the virtue of uprightness and to prevent them from indulging in corruption.

Hrrmph: If RM42 million is a small change, everything below that is smaller. Should all criminals below RM42 million be pardoned? Are the police directed to only catch those who steal more than RM42 million?

Why waste resources on those who steal small change, if they are going to be pardoned for small change?

Or are we going to change the laws to say, if you are an orang besar (big shot) you can steal up to RM42 million, and you will not be charged? But if you are not an orang besar, then you cannot steal at all.

While we are at it, does the holy book say that stealing is only sinful if it is just “big change”? Otherwise, steal away!

Kita Orangbiasa: Zaid, if you claim that a former PM who stole RM42 million should be released, then what about other prisoners who are serving jail terms for similar offences? What is your solution for Najib's other pending cases?

If only Najib, a convict, can save Umno, you have just further tainted the party! It is as though Umno without convict Najib is doomed.

Do you know that this statement of yours has caused much damage to Pakatan Harapan/Umno as PN will use this to hammer and drum over and over again during the state elections campaign? You are not clever as many view you to be.

Undecided: It is sad to witness someone like Zaid come up with this defence of Najib just because he is employed to represent him as his lawyer.

If all our leaders have this “small change” mentality, Malaysia is doomed.

Guess this is the mentality of a typical Malaysian crony who depends on those in power to maximise their wealth accumulation capabilities. There is no red line when it comes to principles or morals.

RR: The PM is neither an attorney-general nor the chief justice to free Najib from imprisonment.

This PM has declared that he would not interfere in the prosecution or the judiciary so that the citizens and investors will always have confidence in the government, prosecution and judiciary.

This matter is for the Pardons Board to decide. Zaid, being a lawyer and a former minister should know better than to ask the PM to free Najib.

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