vox populi small thumbnail'The AG's Chambers are never in favour of judicial activism and have always relied on the dry letter of the law instead of the spirit.'

Karpal replies to demand for Anwar's DNA sample

Quigonbond: The ultimate question must be this - what's the scope of the Evidence Act? You can't just expand its application willy nilly. It's a criminal statute and has to be interpreted contra proferentum, an ambiguous term will be construed against the interests of the party who imposed it - the prosecution.

The Attorney-General's Chambers are never in favour of judicial activism anyway, always relying on the dry letter of the law instead of the spirit of the law, such as in case of sedition charges, so requiring judicial activism when it suits them, AG's Chambers smacks of double standards.

If you can expand the application of the Evidence Act, what's next - psychic evidence to nail Anwar?

Limml: I think the demand for Anwar to submit his DNA amounts to asking him to prove himself innocent. This should not be the case as a person is held innocent until proven guilty. The prosecution should provide evidence to the court to prove Anwar guilty.

Arbeena: If Anwar suspects the government of any cheating in profiling his DNA, he can send his sample to any independent lab elsewhere in the world. After all, the prosecution wants to see if his sample matches with the sample found on Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan.

If his sample does not match, the court can throw out this case and he is the rightful owner of the post of prime minister of Malaysia after the next general election.

Nah: Since it's plantable, DNA is an evidence to be manipulated by the authorities. Common sense is that, in this Sodomy II case, all DNAs found inside Saiful's anus could have been implanted by plastic tools or fingers.

AntiBN.my: Anwar's defence team must push for the prosecution to ask the other owners of the DNA found on Saiful to submit their DNA also. That would be what we call a fair trial.

Michael Angelo: The issue here is not the matching of the DNA between Anwar and on Saiful, the main issue is how the DNA ended up in Saiful's anus? Without an eye witness or camera evidence as in the Dr Chua Soi Lek video, how do we know Saiful or other people did not shove the Male Y DNA up his anus?

So even if Anwar's DNA matches the DNA in Saiful's anus, it still does not prove that Anwar sodomised him. In short, without eye- witnesses or videos, it is just one person's word against the other. From the political view point, this case is used to malign Anwar and to perpetuate a lie so that ignorant voters and the rakyat will turn against him.

Josephine: It is not about Anwar offering himself for DNA testing, but rather the circumstances under which the DNA was found in Saiful's anus.

The prelude to the so-called sodomy where Saiful met with senior police officers and the PM, and his insistence that he did not wash his butt, nor did he buang air besar (defecate) make the tale totally unbelievable.

If, as we suspect, Anwar's DNA has been planted in Saiful's anus, Anwar by providing his DNA is not going to absolve him of his innocence, but rather, playing himself in the prosecution's hands.

I think, before the prosecution wants Anwar to provide his DNA, the prosecution need to satisfy the defence team that there is no hanky-panky in Saiful's arse.

Cala: Given the questionable conduct of the regime bent to destroy an opposition leader who poses a challenge to their unobstructed rule in the last 53 years, anything short of a proper triangulation on sources of data is not acceptable. Let me cover two areas.

First, at the moment, it is an issue of Saiful's words versus Anwar's words. Do you trust Saiful? As it is, we learn of the many meetings Saiful had with PM Najib Abdul Razak and his wife. Sodomy II points to a political manoeuver coloured with a high degree of conspiracy between the complainant (Saiful) and the powers-that-be.

Second, I read of a case in Taiwan wherein a young national service man was accused of raping a girl in the male toilet in an army camp. Since his DNA was found in the toilet's rubbish bin, the court sentenced him to death after a long trial.

But throughout the hearing, the man denied any wrongdoing. His father, too, fought for the son's innocence. Many years after the young national serviceman was sentenced to death, another serviceman came forward admitting that he was the real culprit.

The real story was, the first man masturbated in the said toilet and left his DNA in the rubbish bin. Moments later the second man came in and somehow met the girl, raped and killed her in exactly the same spot.

In other words, the mere presence of a person's DNA does not necessarily mean a crime has been committed by him as exemplified in the Taiwan case. Hence, if at all credibility matters to the regime, surely it must do more than this to convince the ordinary people on the street that Anwar is guilty.

Otherwise, it is saying that out of desperation and fear of losing in the 13th GE, Anwar must be made immobile.


'We can sue you too,' Zahid tells Pua

Jimmy Ng: Such is the typical arrogance of an Umnoputra minister. Instead of coming clean and addressing the main issues head-on that are of importance to the nation and rakyat, they harp on trivialities so as to distract the attention of the general public, assuming all the rakyat to be idiots easily fooled or hoodwinked.

Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, you can fool some of the rakyat some of the time, but not all of the rakyat all of the time. Answer MP Tony Pua's query: Why is there such a huge cost over-run? If you are worth your salt, answer the question!

MT: Let Zahid and Umno sue Pua. This is the best thing that can happen. They'll have to lay bare all the facts about the government's military procurement for all to see.

Ipoh: How can the government sue a MP for doing what his constituents and others voters expect him to do? Perhaps BN MPs would meekly toe the line and ignore the people's trust in them. Certainly a conscientious MP like Tony Pua should raise serious questions about important issues especially one that concerns billions of taxpayers' money.

Zahid's accusation that Pua is another country's agent amounts to treason, not a charge to be taken lightly. If Zahid cannot provide proof, the very least he should do is apologise.

Being obstinate only shows the his true colours and character, which is very shallow and lacking. This is the one major reason Umno lost the support of the people, by having foolish leaders who talk nonsense.

 

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