by Susan Loone
Malaysiakini
May 4, 2013
Pakatan’s prime minister-designate Anwar Ibrahim has vowed that his political opponents will not face “retributive justice” should he assume power in Putrajaya tomorrow.
His political enemies, among others, is his former boss,ex-premier Mahathir Mohamad.
“I have no intention of taking revenge against him nor will we be conducting any investigation on him,” said Anwar at a press conference in Kubang Semang today.
“However, this does not mean that the wealth of Petronas will continue to remain a monopoly in the hands of his cronies,” he was quick to add.
“Such ill gotten wealth must be returned to the people,” he stressed.
“I can understand his hysterical outburst recently but no one said we will go after him,” he quipped.
Anwar, a former deputy prime minister, insisted that his government will follow due process of law when implementing justice.
Praise for caretaker PM
“We believe in justice and rule of law and we will follow the due process,” he said
At the press briefing, Anwar thanked caretaker Prime Minister Najib Razak for promising a smooth transition of power and calling for civility in campaigning.
On his being the Pakatan federal government’ premier Anwar played safe, saying “it would be decided by consensus”.
“We do not want to pre-empt the campaign which is why we did not make any announcement,” he said, adding he was aware that some quarters have made such a declaration.
On the posts of deputy prime ministers, Anwar said that too had been agreed by general consensus but no announcement had been made.
This was in reference to DAP national chairperson Karpal Singh who said at the mammoth rally at the Esplanade last night that PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang would be DPM 1 and senior leader Lim Kit Siang DPM 2.
Meanwhile, Anwar also announced a slew of measures for the 100 days in power if the coalition takes over Putrajaya tomorrow.
Among others, Anwar declared May 6 a federal holiday “to ease the rakyat’s travels home, after voting”.
He also announced the launch of the “Freeing the Parliament” agenda in which the Pakatan government would seek to amend or abolish all anti-rakyat laws.
These include the Publications and Printing Presses Act 1984, 1971 Universities and University Colleges Act, and reinstatement of the 20 percent petroleum and hydrocarbon royalties to Sabah, Sarawak, Terengganu and Kelantan.
#1 by Godfather on Sunday, 5 May 2013 - 10:22 am
This is really an oxymoron. How can there be no retributive justice ? You expect them to give up their ill-gotten gains ? I mean, Daim goes to Anwar and says ” here are all my properties and shares obtained illegally when I was finance minister ” ?
#2 by balls2u on Sunday, 5 May 2013 - 1:22 pm
The man is right. You go after the money but not the person. The fact that if someone still intends to hang on to the money will be treated differently. An example will be Petronas contracts. If PKR wins this election, we would hope that future government contracts will be dished out fairly instead to some well-connected families. Already when that starts, some companies will eventually fade away. Individuals with unexplained wealth can be penalised with punitive taxes but this can be done as a general taxation issue. It is the smarter way to retrieve the stolen wealth without being seen to be targeting specific individuals. Wealth will be frittered away when the money tap is turned off. It is not that easy to change lifestyle when one is used to it.
#3 by sheriff singh on Sunday, 5 May 2013 - 2:40 pm
No retribution?? We have got to get back all the ill-gotten gains for the peoples’ benefit.
We need to ‘repair’ the country. We need to reboot.