YOURSAY | ‘Zainal should look at himself in the mirror and get Najib to resign first.’

Seriously consider taking leave, anti-graft group tells Penang CM

Mushiro: It is interesting that Penang Umno chief Zainal Abidin Osman said that there is no such thing as a conspiracy.

So Zainal believed that Penang CM Lim Guan Eng was fairly charged, that detaining Lim overnight was correct and the attorney-general (AG) was right in deciding to personally head the prosecution team, and that the bail amount was fair.

Now Zainal wants Lim to step down as this would set a bad precedent for public service in Penang.

I wonder if Zainal had anything to say about PM Najib Razak, in which he not only did not step down when he was being investigated, but went further by sacking the AG, dismantling the task force probing him, even ruining the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) team and appointed an AG of his choice, who quickly declared him innocent.

Is Zainal living under a coconut shell in Penang and is he blind to all the mega corruption happening in Umno?

Anonymous 2420741465093169: If DAP thinks that one has to go on leave even if he or she is under investigation, then why does a person being charged not need to do the same and be allowed instead to hold on to his post?

661423777312: There is no need for LGE (Lim Guan Eng) to resign as he is not part of the federal government and cannot by any means use his office to interfere or impede the investigations against him.

LGE did not appoint the AG, neither did he reshuffle the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and replace its chief, Mohamed Abu Kassim.

LGE, as opposition leader, is powerless in influencing the instruments of the state. Besides the whole world, including kindergarten children, know that this is political persecution.

Anonymous 1757241442819165: Why should LGE go on leave where someone else doesn’t need to? C4 chief Cynthia Gabriel, please speak wisely.

C4center: We have asked Najib to step aside many, many times. Please visit www.c4center.org for all our statements. And we reiterate that call again.

And yes, I agree with all here that Najib must show the way and step aside. But it’s also in LGE’s best interest to do so to maintain Penang CAT (Competency, Accountability, and Transparency) policies while the trial goes on.

Ferdtan: Cynthia, you don’t paint one case, Lim Guan Eng’s, with the same brush as that of Najib’s. Each case has its own merits.

Just because you called for BN leaders under investigation to take leave, it doesn’t mean that you are under obligation to make the same call without looking at the reality of the case.

Especially when almost every Malaysian knows that this was a BN’s political plot emboldened by their twin wins in the recent by-elections.

Anonymous 242007: The opposition should lead by example. It always asks for those charged to go on leave. Now LGE should do the same.

Pahatian: If Guan Eng is guilty, or seen to be guilty of the charges, he should go on leave. But then, everyone sees no wrong except Umno, the bootlickers of BN and critics of LGE and DAP.

Moreover, as said many times before, LGE has no power or authority over the police, the judiciary and MACC. So what makes it so crucial and important that LGE has to go on leave?

If a precedent is set, that is LGE goes on leave, then should Selangor MB Azmin Ali be similarly charged, he too has to go on leave.

If the trial sees no light and carry on for months or years, then what? By then, the running of the state government would be compromised.

Negarawan: The context of this case has to be understood first. It is clearly a political ploy by Umno to destabilise the Penang state government based on frivolous and trumped-up charges.

If LGE takes leave, it can be expected that Umno will drag the court case for years to weaken the state government. The people of Penang are not so easily fooled, they want LGE to stay on.

Zainal should look at himself in the mirror and get Najib to resign first. It is Najib, not LGE, who is being investigated in more than seven countries, including by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the US Department of Justice (DOJ).

Najib and Umno have no moral authority to condemn anyone. Malaysians are praying hard for divine justice to be served on Najib to stop the rot he has caused to the country.

Oxymoronictendencies: Good question. However, can Malaysia still be considered a democracy?

At best, it's a "faux" democracy, rapidly deteriorating into a dictatorship. Should LGE take leave? It's a rather academic question.

It’s rather like asking whether Najib should step aside and take leave? The answer to both is probably yes.

However as Najib shows no sign of doing what he should, the chance of LGE doing the same is probably zero. Rightly so, some might say.

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