Umno Info Chief Recent Court Decisions Don T Help Our Image

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Umno information chief Shahril Hamdan has admitted that the public backlash against recent decisions by the prosecution to discontinue film producer Riza Abdul Aziz and former Sabah chief minister Musa Aman's court cases has the potential to paint the Perikatan Nasional administration in a bad light
"Notwithstanding the merits or mitigating factors of specific cases, for example, the Independent Commission Against Corruption of Hong Kong (ICAC) investigation with Musa, I'm not under any illusions that on the face of it, it doesn't help our image vis-à-vis the perception of democratic deficit,’’ he told the Malay Mail in an interview
"There was a time Umno dismissed the same concerns as urbanite or liberal, as if those were pejoratives to be ignored in some grander scheme. I don't want the new setup of which Umno is a part of to revert to that,’’ he said, referring to the PN government led by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin
Shahril added that he hoped the public would be fair and consider the specific circumstances of each case. He also cited decisions made during the Pakatan Harapan administration, seemingly referring to the acquittal of former finance minister Lim Guan Eng on corruption charges, over the purchase of a bungalow below market value
On June 9, the High Court acquitted Musa on 46 charges of corruption and money laundering linked to timber concessions in the state, after the prosecution applied to withdraw the charges
Meanwhile, on May 14, a Sessions Court granted Riza, who is also the stepson of former premier Najib Abdul Razak, a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) for money laundering involving US$248 million (RM1.08 billion) linked to 1MDB funds
Shahril (above), who is also deputy Umno Youth chief, also lauded some democratic reforms that were achieved under Harapan, saying the new PN government must maintain press freedom and press coverage for opposition members
“To be fair to Harapan, on balance, of course as an Umno person and as a Malaysian who has Umno persuasions, I think we would do a better job but there are certain things that Harapan did that were laudable,” he said
“I think the democratisation of space in society was real. I had tweeted before that I had no problems to be invited on TV, I had no problems going into universities. These are things that in the past were not synonymous with Umno and I would like that to change.”Shahril also expressed his hopes that the government would table the Prihatin supplementary budget in the coming parliamentary sitting as a way of showing accountability. - Mkini

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