Earlier this evening, CNN carried the following news item from Islamabad:
“Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif resigned Friday after he was disqualified from office by the country’s Supreme Court.
“The court ruled Sharif has been dishonest to parliament and to the judicial system, and is no longer deemed fit for the office of prime minister.
“The panel of five judges announced their unanimous decision Friday afternoon, with the election commission ordered to issue a disqualification notice to Sharif. With the ruling, Sharif’s cabinet has also been dissolved.”
The question that immediately comes to mind is whether the same thing can happen in Malaysia, whether the Malaysian Parliament and judiciary can remove a Prime Minister from office for corruption and dishonesty to Parliament and the judiciary.
South Korea had recently provided another example of the strength of its national institutions when the South Korean Parliament passed an impeachment motion against President Park Geung-hye, followed by an unanimous decision by eight judges of the South Korean Constitution Court which dismissed Park as South Korean President for corruption – putting Park in prison during her corruption trial.
Could this happen in Malaysia if the Malaysian Prime Minister is corrupt and abused his powers?
Clearly, Malaysia has a long way to go to demonstrate that our national institutions are stronger and more powerful than an individual personality.
In Singapore, its premier Lee Hsien Loong went to Parliament to answer all questions about the controversy with his siblings with regard to their late father and the island republic’s first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew’s residence at Oxley Rise, but in Malaysia, Parliament was prohibited from asking questions about the 1MDB scandal, with questions from over 30 MPs rejected on the most ridiculous and indefensible grounds – although the 1MDB scandal turned Malaysia into a global kleptoracy overnight.
Why is there such a contrast between the two Prime Ministers in Malaysia and Singapore, or the Malaysia’s political system from that of Pakistan and South Korea?
If Najib has nothing to hide, he should hold an open and no-holds barred debate on the 1MDB scandal, inviting MPs to ask any questions about the 1MDB scandal and ready to answer all the parliamentary questions.
(Speech by DAP Parliamentary Leader and MP for Gelang Patah Lim Kit Siang at the Skudai DAP Branch dinner at Skudai, Johor on Friday, 28th July 2017 at 9.30pm)