blogtunm.blogspot.com Tun M
1. Malaysian politicians seem to be resorting to litigation in order to gag their critics and detractors.
2. When I was PM and Anwar Ibrahim was being tried, he sued me for 100 million Ringgit for some statements that I made. I had to find lawyers to take up my case. Fortunately I won. Otherwise I would have been bankrupted.
3. When the press asked me about Anwar’s acquittal I pointed out that though the two judges in the Appeals Court cleared Anwar on the basis that the complainant was not a reliable witness and that the “event” did not take place on the date as reported in the charge, but they still said they believed that Anwar did indulge in sodomy.
4. Of course the third judge concluded that Anwar was indeed guilty of sodomy.
5. The press reported my answer. Following that Anwar sued me again for 100 million Ringgit and again I had to employ lawyers to defend me.
6. It is now three years since the suit and I don’t know whether it is sub-judice or not but I am scared to talk about it. Effectively the suit has gagged me. It is no different from being censored by the Government.
7. If eventually the court decides that I am not guilty I suppose I am entitled to be compensated for the cost incurred. But I don’t think I would be paid.
8. On the other hand if I lose I would be made a bankrupt.
9. The amount that the litigants sue for is usually extremely big, running into one hundred million even. The litigant knows the person he sues would not be able to pay. But that doesn’t matter. It would deter him and others too from exposing his (litigant’s) misdeeds in the future.
10. I get a feeling that the court is being made use of by these politicians to hide their misdeeds and to prevent them from being made political issues.
11. I feel sure we will be seeing more suits by politicians in the future.
Viva Malaysian politics!!
