SOMETHING ‘ANWAR NEEDS TO TAKE VERY SERIOUSLY’
Rafizi, who resigned as Economics Minister last month after failing to defend his deputy presidency of PKR at internal party polls in late May, is demanding that the government immediately establish a Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate the swirling controversy around the judiciary.
The Rafizi-led group of PKR MPs has also demanded that a parliamentary select committee dealing with human rights, elections and institutional reforms start proceedings and investigations into the matter, “including calling the prime minister to give an explanation”.
The PKR MPs’ move to demand that their own leader and premier be summoned before a parliamentary select committee is unprecedented in Malaysia.
On Tuesday (Jul 8), the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) said in a statement that all proceedings related to the appointment of judges were in accordance with the Federal Constitution.
The AGC added that the situation did not amount to a constitutional crisis and that calls for a Royal Commission of Inquiry and a parliamentary select committee to investigate alleged irregularities in judicial appointments were unfounded.
The ACG’s statement has drawn immediate heat.
Lawyer Latheefa Koya, a prominent activist and former chief commissioner of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, said on Tuesday that the AGC could not dismiss the allegations on the basis that it “was not supported by strong evidence”.
“This amounts to a premature dismissal of the allegations by the AGC,” she said, adding that there was strong doubt whether any serious probe had been conducted on the matter.
Rafizi also responded on Tuesday noting that the AGC had failed to address questions he and his PKR colleagues had raised this week.
“It is not the AGC’s place to say that these are premature accusations or speculation,” Rafizi said in a statement, adding that since “the JAC deliberations are confidential, so how can the AGC say the accusations are without merit”.
The increasingly noisy dust-up over new judicial appointments comes as Anwar crosses the half-way mark of his five-year term amid serious other political challenges.
Frustration is spreading among ordinary Malaysians over mounting pressures on the cost of living, which has been exacerbated by the expansion early this month of a sales and service tax (SST).
Economists say this only underscored the financial pressures facing the government that must juggle a national debt burden of RM1.3 trillion (US$307 billion).
There are also fresh political headaches.
The deepening turmoil in PKR following the divisive internal election in May, which saw Anwar’s eldest daughter, Nurul Izzah Anwar, defeating Rafizi for the number two position in the party, has upset Anwar’s multi-racial political base.
It has caused unhappiness among the party’s grassroot members and triggered criticisms of nepotism and dynasty building against Anwar.
Independent polling and research outfit Merdeka Centre, which recently reported approval ratings of 55 per cent for Anwar from a survey, told CNA that those numbers no longer hold.
“After the SST and also the problems in PKR, I would have to shave between five and 10 percentage points from the survey which was carried out before these events,” said Ibrahim Suffian, Merdeka Centre’s director of programmes, in a telephone interview.
“There are some things he (Anwar) may have delivered , but the ones that he has not delivered are the big promises,” said Professor Khoo Boo Teik, a seasoned Malaysian political watcher who noted that more can be done to tackle the rising cost of living and battle corruption.
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