YOURSAY | Pardons Board should stop hiding behind Agong

YOURSAY | 'If you can't say, just say you can't.'

Yeoh on Najib pardon bid: I spoke with nation's interest in mind

Apanama is back: Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Federal Territories) Hannah Yeoh, that is not how the Yang di-Pertuan Agong decides on a pardon application.

Under Article 42 of the Federal Constitution, the Agong holds the power to grant pardons, but he exercises this on the advice of the Federal Territories Pardons Board.

Therefore, do not hide behind the crown by saying the king deferred former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak's pardon application.

The Pardons Board advised the king to defer the application to another day, with the reason known to you, but due to the board's secretive nature, you can't reveal it.

Of course, you need to play with some words. The reason is known, not speculative.

KNSamy: The Pardons Board deliberations are confidential. Politicians should not make it into a public court where the whole world follows it.

There are guidelines to be followed - not just adhering to the whims and fancies of interested parties.

Never forget that Najib had gone through a thorough legal process and was convicted for his actions. As the prime minister of this country, he should not have indulged in such actions in the first place.

GP2025: Well, what else to expect when supposedly reformist parties compromised their ideals and formed an alliance with a rejected party for their own private agenda?

Now the partners in the alliance are shifting the blame to one another, which is disturbingly destabilising, but this government tolerates it as long as no effort is taken to remove it, calling that “stable”.

The people can see through it. Yeoh should reveal what she said to clarify.

Lone_star@ GP2025: What would have happened in December 2022 if Pakatan Harapan with 83 seats had sat out, not compromised its principles, and let BN with 30 seats join Perikatan Nasional with 74 seats and others to form the federal government?

If that happened, the nation would have been under BN/PN for the past three years.

Would the royal commission of inquiry report on Tabung Haji be made known? Would there be another prominent inmate in the Bamboo Resort? Would there be revelations of troubles in Mara and Felda?

Daily living in the real world often involves making compromises.

Tired: Whenever in a bind, these people will always hide behind the phrase "it is the prerogative of the Agong to decide".

Everybody knows that though the king decides, constitutionally he acts on the advice of the Pardons Board.

Yeoh, just tell us what advice was given by you and the attorney-general that led to the Agong deciding to defer Najib's pardon application to a later date.

Don't hide behind a statement which does not say anything.

MarioT: Ultimately. It is the Agong's prerogative to accept the committee's recommendation or not.

Thus, no individual in the committee has the absolute authority to make the decision to defer it.

WhiteDeer9140: This was the main reason I believe Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has given Yeoh this portfolio.

He can distance himself and his party and let Yeoh and DAP carry the can. She has merit, a conscience, knows the law, and will stand her ground to do what is right.

Winning Scarecrow: I think Yeoh spoke with DAP’s interests in mind. She knows that Anwar and DAP will be thoroughly defeated by the Umno-PAS winning combination in GE16.

But she forgot that the Malays will now reject DAP and Harapan completely, and the non-Malay votes will split since many of them will support former economy minister Rafizi Ramli and Bersama.

Turnedback: If Umno leaders understood what you have spoken, there should not be any dispute or grievances related to Najib's pardon.

As Yeoh said, she stated her view honestly, guided by her conscience in the interest of the nation.

Mechi: Where is Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform), Azalina Othman Said? She appears irrelevant to Malaysia.

Then she should quit. Her department is mischievously insular, without any progress or developments in making Malaysia move forward. Why?

Najib has been given very generous leeway. Serving the balance of his sentence is more than appropriate. Given an inch, he wants a foot.

Those cronies who are fighting tooth and nail for his crime committed against the people he was elected to serve are utterly unacceptable.

PurpleCat9452: Yes or no, Yeoh? If you can’t say, just say you can’t. No need to hide a simple answer behind a constitutional lecture.

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