INTERVIEW Despite being a vocal critic of Umno and BN where he contested under and won in 2004 for the Kota Baru parliamentary seat, and his views seem to be tailor-made for the opposition where he was once with PKR, former de facto law minister Zaid Ibrahim said he has not received any offers to join any party.

The former Pakatan Rakyat coordinator and former Parti Kesejahteraan Tanah Air (Kita) president said while he is interested in contesting in the 14th general elections, he has not received any offers.

The 64-year-old lawyer, who previously owned one of the largest law firms in Malaysia, Zaid & Co, agreed that some parties may see him as a liability due to his strong views.

“If I am considered as an asset to (the newly formed) Pakatan Harapan then I do not mind contesting. However, if I am seen as a burden, you see I do not like to be a burden.

“If I am only appointed as a normal elected representative, then it may not be worth it. Surely I would like to contest in a party or coalition that would likely win in the next general election,” he said.

Asked whether he would consider Umno, the party he was with in 2000 and won the Kota Baru seat in 2004 to 2008, Zaid thinks there is no chance of him going back to the Malay nationalist party.

He said it’s been almost eight years since he left the party and he does not think that Umno will change.

“They cannot change and after eight years (and under Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s leadership), it (Umno) had become worse,” he said.

He, however, admitted that he had monitored the newly-formed Parti Amanah Negara and had been following them to some states when they were on their road shows.

Zaid told this in an interview at his home recently.

Asked to comment on the possibility of PAS tabling its private member’s bill on hudud in his native state of Kelantan in Parliament, the former cabinet minister does not think this will happen.

“It would not happen, it would not happen. I think if Umno (allowed) it to table hudud, then they have gone mad,” he said.

‘A court registrar lodged police report’

On the current investigations he is facing for sedition over an article he wrote in an English daily commenting on the recent M Indira Gandhi and K Pathmanathan case on unilateral conversion, Zaid said he got to know the report against him was lodged by a court registrar at the Court of Appeal.

He believes it could be one of the judges at the Court of Appeal who lodged the complaint against him.

“I was made to understand the complaint came from a Court of Appeal registrar. This means the real complainant is a judge. A registrar could not be associated with the view that are written,” he said.

To a question whether he stood by his comment, Zaid explained that this was about the justice system.

“Knowing the law and the facts, this goes a long way. Look, this is a case of a child (infant 11-month-old Prasana Diksa) who is separated from her mother. It is incomprehensible (that) you cannot give justice.

“I was venting my frustration, the hurt felt as I know it was forced circumstances and the justice system has failed. The whole system has failed and it is the people responsible who resulted in the failure, the judges, the justice system,” he said.

Zaid said such cases should be treated with humanity and respect.

He said people fear that Islam would be contaminated if you do not rule in this manner, whereas the religion itself asked its people to be just.

“The issue had rather become something else, rather than a mother and daughter issue. It has become an Allah issue and Islam as opposed to other religion.

“The only way to have justice is to treat people with respect and humility. This is the only way that this can work (in such cases) and it is not limited to drafting or amending laws and tabling it in Parliament,” he said.

When asked about the Sedition Act being amended to allow criticism of the judiciary, Zaid pointed out that the problem was that it had not been gazetted yet and that he is governed by the old law.

Part I: 'Najib has soiled nation's potential with bad governance'

Part II: Zaid: Enough of 'free Anwar', look for new hero