YOURSAY | Should Najib be pardoned due to technicality?

YOURSAY | ’Najib has had more than his fair share of justice.’

Najib cites dissenting SRC judgment to bolster pardon bid

Vijay47: Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, I fully sympathise with you that when a further 11 years loom, not to mention a considerable refund of fortune to those whose wealth you stole, one would try every trick in the book and a few yet to be invented to avoid further residence at the king’s pleasure.

Thus, it would hardly matter that the efforts at freedom would elicit amazement from the public and continuing scorn on your lawyers who insist on proceeding with their circus performance.

Ergo, you believe that the laboured opinion of one out of five Federal Court judges or in the bigger perspective, one judge from 14, is a sufficient authority over why the decision of every panel you had appeared before should be overturned and a royal pardon be granted to you.

I am not even delving much into your very application for pardon on almost absent grounds that could be construed as gross disrespect to His Majesty.

You have set new legal standards and mathematical principles when you state that one dissenting opinion is greater than the majority four.

Whatever you do, Najib, do not give up your day job which you don’t have anyway. Do not apply to become an English Premier League referee - you might hold that since Liverpool scored one goal, they are winners against Manchester City’s four.

Maya: They will clutch onto every straw. What's more, the fact that that ounce of a dissenting judgment that he was "not given a fair trial" will always be used.

The other reason that was played up suddenly yesterday was the fact about MACC chief Azam Baki's letter to Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat about the conduct of the trial judge.

The very fact glaring treatment given to a VIP convict is very evident, and nobody dares question it. This means Najib is still believed by certain people as an innocent former prime minister.

Will Azam write to the Prison Department commissioner-general that his conduct is suspected? Looking at the whole saga, some parties are prepared to hijack the whole game for reasons only known to them.

Finally, if this is how the game is played, then every dissenting judgment finally goes straight to the pardon board, making a mockery of the judiciary.

LimePanther5220: What great injustice will be done to this country and the rakyat if this person is to be pardoned without serving sufficient years in jail?

Can the judgment of one person overrule the judgment of four others? The country and rakyat suffered a great loss of national wealth due to the IMDB.

Besides, we suffer deep humiliation as the nation with the biggest kleptocratic case of all time. Today, the rakyat is crying for more and more rounds of EPF withdrawals.

If not for the huge amount of money which has been stolen from the country through 1MDB and the substantial principal and interest payments which the country now has to bear on 1MDB debts, the government would be in a much better position to help the poor rakyat today.

Najib has no remorse at all, still claiming he is innocent. If he is pardoned and let out, there is a high chance he would create havoc in the country’s politics and be back in power again where he and his cronies would have a free hand to pilfer again.

Even if he had not benefitted financially from 1MDB as he claimed, he should also go to jail for being the finance minister who had closed both eyes and did not know (or pretended not to know) what was happening right under his nose.

Najib’s case has no merit at all. He has been proven guilty through and through. That’s why his legal team has no more credible defence to raise and has to jump on the dissenting judgment of a single judge as grounds to get him a royal pardon.

To the Pardons Board, please love this country more than you love Najib. Please do the right thing and let this country heal.

Fair-minded Senior Citizen: Felons must pay the price of their misdeeds. One dissenting voice against the voices of nine judicial thinkers cannot be good enough for a pardon.

The stealing was not small and could have gone to redress the suffering of thousands. You do not care, do you?

Only your comfort and well-being are important. I hope just common sense prevails.

We do not need his lead counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah’s melodrama to mesmerise the good rakyat.

PurpleTurtle8618: Don’t forget, Najib has many other court cases. So, it is too early to consider any sort of pardon, the salient point about this SRC case is, his guilt is never being questioned even by the dissenting judge.

The judge only said Najib was not given a fair trial simply because Najib's lawyers were not ready. That is only a technical matter.

I say, who changed the lawyers last minute? It's Najib’s decision alone and, I am sure he was being advised on the risk. So bite the bullet Najib!

Nuyiko: Now you know why Najib and his supporters in Umno dislike former attorney-general Tommy Thomas so much. It’s not about his race and competency, but the legal hurdle he caused to Najib.

Najib should wait for his other cases concluded before applying for a pardon. Otherwise, it’s a waste of resources.

What’s the point of being pardoned for SRC cases but going back to jail after being convicted for other cases? There is no guarantee that you are free after being pardoned for one case.

Why don’t you wait until all the cases are concluded and apply for a full pardon in one go? You save time that way.

MajulahMsia: This man cannot be granted a pardon for technical reasons. He has brought disrepute to the whole nation and the establishment.

He was entrusted to protect the country but instead used his position to enrich himself and his family and allow them to enjoy the highest lifestyle at an extreme cost borne by the rakyat.

Worst of all, he shows no remorse.

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