The Malaysian Insight

MUHAMMAD Shafee Abdullah’s arrest is karma, said Anwar Ibrahim of the man who led the prosecution in getting his sodomy acquittal overturned in 2013.

The PKR president-elect took aim at Shafee, who is now facing money laundering charges. 

“The famous lawyer Shafee, last time he was the one who prosecuted me but now he is the one being prosecuted. That’s karma,” he said at a ceramah in Chuah, Negri Sembilan, yesterday night. 

Karma is the principle of cause and effect, where every action has a reaction . 

In 2013, Shafee was appointed by the government to appeal against the High Court’s acquittal of Anwar for sodomy.

The appeal was successful and the Court of Appeal sentenced the former deputy prime minister to five years of imprisonment in 2014.

Shafee then went on a roadshow to talk about the case. 

Anwar  is standing for election in Port Dickson, after he received a royal pardon on May 16, a week after Pakatan Harapan won federal power in the 14th general election.

On the money laundering and power abuse charges against Najib Razak, Anwar said it had not been easy for the government to take action against the former prime minister.. 

“You think it is easy to prosecute a former prime minister? It is hard to charge the former PM, but it is even harder to charge Rosmah,” Anwar said to applause and laughter from the crowd. 

He was referring to the recent indictment of Najib and his wife, Rosmah Mansor. However, Anwar did not explain why it was hard to prosecute them. 

Last week, Rosmah was charged with 17 counts of money laundering and tax evasion. Najib was also in court the same day for case management of seven charges related to him allegedly receiving RM42 million from SRC International Sdn Bhd, a former subsidiary of 1Malaysia Development Bhd

Anwar is hoping to return to Parliament by way of a win in the Port Dickson by-election. This is so that he can take over the prime minister’s office from the 93-year-old Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who yesterday said he would retire when he turned 95.

Also vying to be Port Dickson MP are air force veteran Mohd Nazari Mokhtar of PAS and former Negri Sembilan menteri besar Isa Samad, who is contesting as an independent.

Anwar’s former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan who accused his boss of sodomy in 2008, is contesting. 

Lau Seck Yan, Stevie Chan and Kan Chee Yuen – all independents – make it a seven-cornered fight.

The by-election was called after Danyal Balagopal Abdullah of PKR quit as MP on September 12 to make way for Anwar.

Danyal won the seat in GE14 with 36,225 votes, beating Barisan Nasional’s Mogan Velayatham and Mahfuz Roslan of PAS.

The Port Dickson poll is on Saturday. – October 8, 2018.