Law minister willing to be investigated over 'injustice' tweet
PARLIAMENT | De facto law minister Takiyuddin Hassan is prepared to face the police over an alleged tweet regarding the conviction of former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak.
"I am not sure which tweet is being referred to, whether it is my tweet or the tweet of other parties," he told the Dewan Rakyat during the Ministers' Question Time today.
"... I am subject to the law. If anything I have done is subject to a particular law and the police summon me, I am prepared to go to the police station to offer an explanation," he said.
Takiyuddin was responding to Liew Vui Keong (Warisan-Batu Sapi) who cited a tweet purportedly written by a minister.
Without directly naming the person, Liew claimed the minister tweeted: "There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest ..."
This is a quote by Elie Wiesel, a Romanian-born American writer, Holocaust survivor, political activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
A check by Malaysiakini, however, could not find the abovementioned quote in the minister's Twitter account.
Takiyuddin has previously denied claims he had insulted the courts regarding this, claiming instead that his words had been modified on social media to reflect a different meaning.
He was quoted saying that as the minister in the Prime Minister's Department in charge of law, he would not commit contempt of court.
"I never questioned (the court's decision). As a practitioner of the law, as a minister, I never questioned.
"... but we respect his (Najib's) right to exercise his rights in court [...] but maybe there are those who spin my words. That was not what I meant," he had said.
The alleged tweet in question surfaced following the Kuala Lumpur High Court's recent conviction of Najib on seven criminal charges of money laundering, abuse of power and criminal breach of trust concerning funds from 1MDB-linked SRC International Sdn Bhd.
Liew, meanwhile, today also argued that contempt of court had become a new normal under the administration of Perikatan Nasional and GPS.
"We can see leaders take a role in Twitter, saying this and that over the conviction of a parliamentarian.
"In the Twitter statement, we can see the minister from the other side, together with the environment and water minister (Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man) and the special envoy to the Middle East (Abdul Hadi Awang were seen at Najib's house).
"I wish to obtain an explanation if the minister's statement had contradicted the principle of law which is based on the common law concept," he said.
The Warisan chairperson asked if the government practised double standards since NGO Pertubuhan Minda dan Sosial Prihatin Malaysia president Ramesh Rao was being probed by the police for claiming that the judge who convicted Najib was related to former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
[More to follow]
