KUCHING, July 30: The conviction of former premier Datuk Seri Najib Razak should prompt a look at other similar cases, including those related to former finance minister Lim Guan Eng, to be investigated thoroughly according to the rule of law.
Highlighting this, Batu Kitang assemblyman Lo Khere Chiang said that with Najib’s conviction, all parties should continue to place their trust in the country’s independent judicial system.
“As such, all other similar cases should be investigated thoroughly according to rule of law regardless from which party or which political affiliation. All suspects must be treated equally.
“This includes the case of Lim Guan Eng’s controversial bungalow purchase deal which was dropped in 2018 and the re-launched probe into the Penang Undersea Tunnel scandal.
“In fact, at this very moment, DAP is still painting a picture that the reopening of Penang Undersea Tunnel probe is politically motivated to frame Lim Guan Eng for corruption,” he pointed out in a statement yesterday.
Lo recalled that during the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration, prosecutors had started investigating Najib’s case but had withdrawn Lim’s case.
“The handling of both cases, which yielded no results, was a great disappointment to many.
“The short 22-month tenure of the PH government, after it took power in 2018 until its collapse before end of February this year, only proved that this elected government could not survive the endless internal squabbling,” he said.
Noting that former PH leader and prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, as well as DAP, had stated that Malaysia was back to being “ruled by thieves”, Lo stressed that Najib’s conviction reflected otherwise.
“Clearly, the electoral mandate of Malaysians during May 9, 2018 has gone down the drain with the collapse of the PH government, which is now politically null and void.
“Dr Mahathir and DAP had put the blame on Najib, and charged that Malaysia is back to a ‘dark era’ ruled by ‘thieves’.
“Ironically, Najib, the former Umno president and former prime minister, who was brought down in 2018, was convicted during such ‘dark era’, and not the so-called ‘bright era’ during PH’s rule!”
