YOURSAY | ‘Muhyiddin seems to be using the Donald Trump playbook here…’

Guan Eng to be charged tomorrow, detained overnight at MACC headquarters

Vijay47: If this is it, then so be it. The immediate response from the public would be in respect of the humiliation that former finance minister Lim Guan Eng was put through - being summoned to the MACC office late in the evening and being detained overnight.

The glee for some would be almost palpable but many others would be especially outraged at what they perceive to be the vicious treatment that Guan Eng was subject to while others before him enjoyed far more courteous attention even when they were charged in court.

Whose fault was it? I would lay the blame squarely on the heads of then attorney-general Tommy Thomas and MACC chief Latheefa Koya.

When former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak was charged in court, he was not even dragged into the dock at the earlier stages. Instead, he was allowed to preen about in his Armani, holding court as though he were visiting royalty.

Today, he stands guilty of all seven charges heaped on him. Were he and Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi ever required, even once for a brief moment, to be dressed in purple or orange as the people were yearning to see?

Yet this is not the end of the world. The arrest and charges may actually be welcome by Guan Eng as he would finally have the opportunity to take on his accusers and rebut the criminal acts he is alleged to have committed rather than being dangled persistently over a simmering fire at the MACC headquarters.

Slumdog: The double standard in the way Guan Eng is being treated by the MACC reeks of harassment, persecution, and intimidation. While Najib, Zahid and their clan of undesirables received pampered treatment after being charged and brought before the court, no such liberties given to Guan Eng.

The PN government, a legacy of the Umno government, has this obsession to nail Guan Eng to the wall. The Umno elite was outraged when Guan Eng was appointed the finance minister and this is their opportunity to try and finish him off.

Adding fuel to the fire, de facto Law Minister Takiyuddin Hassan gave the green light for MACC to “reopen the probe into the bungalow deal if new leads surfaced”. Pathetic.

Gerard Lourdesamy: Guan Eng will fight this case like all previous cases. He will be allowed bail.

His cases will take at least two years to finish in the courts of first instance and then another one year for the appeals process. Until a conviction, he can remain an MP and he can still contest in a snap general election.

Many things can change before that. One thing is for certain, this Perikatan Nasional (PN) backdoor government is doomed. It is no better than the hated Umno/BN regime that was soundly defeated in GE14. Voters are watching and waiting.

BlueShark1548: Anyone who is corrupt should be charged, notwithstanding whatever services he rendered the country. Unfortunately, the way it was done appeared as if MACC had been weaponised by politicians, which does it no good as it is doing its job.

So long as MACC could adduce the evidence, people should not doubt the integrity of MACC. Ideally, MACC should be an independent body accountable to Parliament so that its actions could not be politicised.

Clever Voter: From the public perspective, it is obvious double standards being applied. Whatever motive this regime has, it is obvious Guan Eng is the target. Race matters aside, it is also very evident laws are used and applied differently.

Whatever motives one has, it is necessary to be transparent and be consistent and fair. It is difficult to ensure that so long as the regime lives in fear. This sounds too familiar.

Constitutional Supremacy: Talk is going around that there will be a snap election very soon. It is to be timed with the Sabah election. It appears Sabah, Sarawak and parliamentary elections may go together. The next two weeks or so will tell.

Charging Guan Eng is likely to backfire because the Penang undersea tunnel project was an open tender. Guan Eng is not a member of the tender board. It was chaired by state secretary who is a federal employee. Not a single dollar was paid out.

OceanMaster: It used to be the accusations that DAP, Chinese and non-Malays are controlling the country, and hatred whipped up to spur support. Then they pulled a Brutus from Pakatan Harapan to form a backdoor unelected hyper-Malay government.

Now after months being the government, it has nothing to deliver, nothing to hide behind, and no one to blame but themselves. So, a group of ‘no integrity’ people go after a Chinese leader to distract the base support. This is Trumpism playbook.

Doc: Indeed, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin seems to be using the Donald Trump playbook here; killing off his chances to attract minority voters by arresting Guan Eng and strengthening the opposition.

My suspicions about Muhyiddin has been confirmed today; he is truly dumb as a doorknob.

Fredtan: One Lim Guan Eng may be down; but why worry, DAP has many more 'Lim Guan Engs ' to continue the fight. The party has reached a stage that it is bigger than one man. DAP will not go away but will become even stronger.

That is what Muhyiddin has forgotten. He believes that he has the support of the Malays, but the support of the Chinese stands in his way to assured victory in any snap election.

Annonymous: Guan Eng is an unfortunate victim of circumstances and has just been "martyred" by the corrupt in power.

We are certain this will be a strong catalyst to provoke the good rakyat, especially the silent majority, the good Malays and the fence-sitters, to unite with all other Malaysians to strive for change in the next election to save the country from the kleptocrats in power.

Rentap: An illegitimate government without any mandate from the people is attempting to intimidate its opponents including the press and opposition to shut down any discussion that it does not favour.

Bersatu has no choice because they need to "retaliate" before Umno accuses them of betrayal for ‘letting’ Najib be sentenced by the court.

PN is already unravelling and as any weak organisation trying to hold on to power, it will try to find scapegoats who it will use to divert attention from its own problems.

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