Anwar says no need to jail the corrupt

Everytime prime minister, Anwar Ibrahim opens his mouth, he gives Malaysians yet another reason for us, the rakyat, to demand his resignation.

Last night, Anwar was at the National Journalists’ Day 2025 celebration at the World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur. I will mention the two parts of his speech that are of interest.

The first is about his role in fighting corruption.

The second is what he said about you, or rather, your attitude towards corruption

Please feel free to refer to the many newspaper reports about his speech last night.

In his speech, Anwar said, “I have no interest in jailing people. I’m interested in recovering the money so it can be returned to the people. “That is my focus. And I want to put an end to this culture (of abuse of power and corruption).”

So, Anwar, please tell us. Were any stolen funds recovered from a former self-styled First Lady of Malaysia. Items sezied were around RM1.1 billion comprising suitcases of cash in several foreign currencies, the designer handbags, watches, dark glasses, and expensive jewellery. Weren’t some returned to her? Rakyat is not happy. All that effort only for us to receive two tight slaps.

With Anwar’s corruption remarks, he sent out the wrong message to the rakyat.

1. He is saying it is ok to steal, because the authorities will not jail you. All you need to do, is just return the money.
2. When Anwar says that he is not interested in jailing the crooks, he is only encouraging them to steal and to try their luck with huge corruption. Now, these crooks know, that if they are caught, all they have to do, is just surrender the stolen loot. He is also saying that they must be more careful and not try to get caught. I reckon, for every crooked politician or corporate person or crony who is caught for corruption, perhaps, ten others or more are undetected.
3. By Anwar’s logic, we are exposed to the two tiers of justice – one for the rich and one for the poor. We know this is already happening . The desperate unemployed father who steals milk powder for his baby, or the single mother who steals Milo for her starving child are jailed. No-one is interested in recovering the stolen food. That is the law for poor people.
   However, for the super rich corrupt politicians and corrupt cronies, by Anwar’s logic, you just want to recover the stolen money so these corrupt people escape scot free. So, what is the deterrent? The other accompanying message is if you want to steal, make sure it if for huge amounts.
4. Why is Anwar afraid of an effective deterrent? An effective deterrent is to jail the corrupt irrespective of race, religion or social status, confiscate all theirs and their families’ assets, strip them of their titles. Do NOT allow the investigations to drag on either. If you want an extremely effective deterrent, just do what the PRC do. A bullet to the back of the head, then send the bill to the family to pay for that bullet. Some people will say this is too extreme
5. How does one fight crime and corruption with Anwar’s logic, is criminals are only required to just return the money, as they will be spared jail? Criminals need to have the fear of being sent to prison. Perhaps, the government need not build new jails as we just send them home.
6. Why does Anwar say, only certain people will be jailed? So what is the criteria to choose these people who may be jailed? Does that mean if you are a datuk or tan sri or are related to a VVIP, then you will not get jailed? If you are working class are you jailed? If you have a degree, will you be jailed. So what is his definition of “certain people only will be jailed”.
7. How will the authorities recover the stolen funds, especially as some high profile corrupt people were given discounts despite the fines imposed by the courts? Look at the case of the convicted felon Najib Abdul Razak. Anwar even admitted he had a part to play in giving a discount to both his jail term and his fine. We also know that many allegedly corrupt politicians in his cabinet, most of whom are ex-Umno-Baru, were acquitted of their corrupt crimes or are given a DNAA. Discharge Not Amounting to An Acquittal. That is not a deterrent. That is a reward for stealing and abuse of power.
8. If Anwar is really serious about combatting corruption he would enforce a zero tolerance policy, and all allegations are investigated fairly, without fear or favour, and are NOT allowed to drag on and on and on without any end in sight. Maybe, the people investigating want us to forget about these crimes. If he is serious and firm in his conviction about eradicating corruption, then he should not be afraid of the consequences. Right now, he holds back because he fears losing the Malay vote, because many of the corrupt politicians are Malay. Many integrity? Mana prinsip?
9. Those members of his cabinet who were fully acquitted or were given a DNAA for their alleged corruption. Why was these cases terminated mid trial. Did these corrupt people return their money?
10. By the way Mr PM, only the courts can decide who goes to prison. It is not yours to make
    
    Anwar also said in his speech, “When we have taken action against those corrupt leaders, past or present leaders, businesspersons, corporate leaders, who have squandered billions of ringgit, I have not seen that sort of anger and support that we should have.”

According to him, we do not get angry enough. Well, actually, we are angry but each time we ask about the progress of the investigation, your people say, It is still in progress, it takes time, we must gather evidence and witnesses. We understand the need to be thorough, but when the people who investigate take their own sweet time, we wonder if their plan is they hope we will forget. In some cases, many allegedly corrupt politicians were fully acquitted or given a DNAA. So, do not blame us.

In any other civilised country which respects the rule of law, the process to deal with corrupt people is swiftly carried out, so that we can carry on with our lives and the administration with governing. But apparently not in Malaysia.

Week in, week out, prime minister, Anwar’s rhetoric appears to be more confused.
Instead of getting the support and confidence of the rakyat, he has made us more determined that he should go. Yes, resign
In the meantime, he should sack his publicity people, communications minister and speech writer. They are part of the problem.

Does he even think about what he’s saying?