YOURSAY | ‘He should have said the property was a ‘donation’ and not for personal gain.’

Sorry for the shame, but I'm innocent: Khir to family, friends

CQ Muar: Former Selangor menteri besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo, first you tender your apology to your family, supporters and friends for the shame you bring upon them, then you justify your wrongdoings by claiming you're innocent - this sets your remorse back to square one.

You ought to thank your lucky star the judge meted out such a mild sentence compared to the 10-year sentence meted out to a hungry youth for a crime involving less than RM100.

Justine Gow: Of course, Khir Toyo is innocent, that is, by the new standard established this year.

At the start of his trial, he should have said the property was a "donation" which he intended to use not for personal gain but to set up a huge dental hospital to give free dental treatment to the poor and to conduct cutting-edge dental research.

If he did, he might be free today.

Ipohcrite: Khir Toyo does not show any remorse despite being convicted of corruption. Instead, he desperately claims that he is innocent.

Every right-thinking citizen can see that he had corruptly benefitted himself through his position and that the court was right in finding him guilty.

I believe Khir Toyo is defiant simply because, compared to other bigger political fishes (the case of RM2.6 billion comes to mind), he is but a teenie weenie little fish.

If you possessed the party's standard political DNA, you might understand why Khir Toyo is being as sore as he is. Personally, I feel Khir Toyo got off lightly; it should have been 12 years, not months, of jail time.

Ferdtan: Khir Toyo has rightly confirmed guilty by the Federal Court. It is intriguing, knowing how Umno always ‘protects’ its leaders - even the many lowly ultra-Umno officials - how did Khir Toyo’s fortune fell to this sorry stage whereby he is actually going to jail?

At the age of 35, he became the youngest MB. Since then he rose to high party position as member of Umno's supreme council (elected with the highest votes) and Selangor BN chief from 2000 to 2008.

Even when he lost the state to Pakatan Rakyat in 2008, it was surprising that he was arrested for corruption three years later. At that time, Najib Razak had taken over as PM; and that could mean Najib had no use of him for political support.

Originally Khir Toyo was seen to be Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s protégé as he was appointed by the then premier as MB. In 2011, he contested for the Umno Youth chief post and Khairy Jamaluddin won narrowly due to split votes between him and the other contestant, Mukhriz Mahathir.

Mahathir’s camp was angry with him for spoiling his son’s chance. So Khir Toyo was left with no ally in Umno. That could be the main reason why he was not ‘protected’ as we often see no Umno big guns being prosecuted for crimes. He was thus dispensable.

This arguably has nothing to do with our judiciary having turned for the better with this one-time correct judgment. For example, small fry like Ali Tinju (Mohd Ali Baharom), who was arrested for inciting Low Yat riot, can be released with his charges dropped by AG (attorney-general).

It means that if you are backed by the powers-that-be, you are immune from prosecution.

Anonymous_1430119660: The Hindus will tell you that despite all the plea by then MIC chief S Samy Velu not to demolish the Hindu temple, you went ahead - the divine is forgiving but never forgets one who is not repentant.

I would have to agree with many of the comments here in Malaysiakini , that you were the "kambing bala" (a goat for the slaughter) of the powerful Umno godfathers and warlords.

Vent: Since 12 months is a long time in politics, I suggest that Khir Toyo takes up law to better understand what the crime of corruption entails.

And while he is at it, I suggest he brushes up on the semantics of guilt and innocence for he has neither shame or honour to declare that he is innocent.

Mushiro: No one expect Khir Toyo to admit to his crimes and Khir should not expect anyone to believe his pleas of innocence.

Anonymous$&@?: This ex-MB should thank his lucky stars that he got away lightly compared to crimes committed by lesser minions.

Not admitting to wrongdoing after the apex court passed its judgment clearly showed that Umno leaders after having listened to lies told by the party for donkey years are now beginning to believe in their own spin.

GE14NOW!: Of course, you are innocent. You are as innocent as your party’s chief ‘fund-raiser’.

How dare we think otherwise. And what might be better than a magnanimous innocent man who wanted to give free dental service to the poor? And of course, I am innocent of sarcasm in writing this.

Odin Tajué: I feel so, so, so sorry for this totally innocent person that I am weeping buckets here and going through several boxes of Kleenex.

The courts and the judges presiding over his case have been most unfair; the latter have obviously been remiss in considering all the facts in his favour.

He should have been found innocent and given a room in a five-star hotel such as the one in Bamboo River (Sungai Buloh) for much longer than the 10 years' stay given to that person who stole a tin of sardines and some rice.

Good Governance: Khir Toyo, you are still relatively young. Effectively you only have to be behind bars for about eight months.

Take this opportunity to keep yourself fit and healthy with daily exercise. Read as much as you can and spend time reflecting on your life and planning for life after your release in a few months’ time.

All is not lost. You still have your family albeit separated from them for the next few months. Look at it positively. This may be God's plan for you to become a better person.

Anonymous_1408265047: Author Tom Bageant wrote: "Semi-literacy endows its tribe with the surety and conviction of those who do not know what they do not know, rendering them blustering, happy idiots who have not the slightest notion of anything but appearances."

Here we have a person, Khir Toyo, who is worried about the appearance of shame and is sorry about that appearance, but, is not sorry for the crime.

This is a warped persona and we should actually feel sorry for him. However, this particular trait is very common in this society. If you do not get caught, you have not done anything wrong.

Anonymous_1408265047: One would think that the prosecutor and the judge would know by now that what is considered as corruption by the developed world and even most of the non-developed world is not corruption in Malaysia.

Here it is known as business. Is this not what Mahathir called the Asian way? Corruption is the common thread throughout the Malaysian culture and even the simplest transactions involve some type of corruption.

It is a rare thing to sit through a complete cycle of traffic lights and not see someone runs a red light. This is corruption in its simplest form. This is why this pathetic man cannot see that he has committed a crime.

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