Take a break, Shafee

Blogger Shahbudin wonders why the prosecutor keeps trying to justify the Anwar verdict.

PETALING JAYA: A widely followed blogger on Umno politics finds it “extraordinary, strange and weird” that the chief prosecutor in Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy case should be so tireless in trying to justify the guilty verdict.

Shahbudin Husin observes that Shafee Abdullah has been giving press statements and addressing several functions in which he has vigorously asserted his belief that Anwar was indeed guilty of sodomy.

“It is normal for those on the side of the defeated to keep voicing out their dissatisfaction and to press for justice, but it is certainly extraordinary, strange and weird that the winning side should keep trying to convince the public of the correctness of the decision already made by five Federal Court judges,” he writes.

“And why is there any need for Shafee to keep stressing that he was merely the chief prosecutor and not a politician?

“Is he, after all, not certain that the verdict was correct? Or has God tormented his soul with feelings of guilt?”

Shahbudin says the strangeness of Shafee’s current demeanour is reminiscent of the weirdness of the stories spread in public during the course of the trial.

He supports a call by former attorney-general Abu Talib Othman for Shafee’s service as deputy public prosecutor to be terminated so that he will stop discoursing on a case that has ended.

He quotes Abu Talib as saying that such discourses would tend to bolster the argument that the case against Anwar was politically motivated.

Recalling that one of the recent events featuring Shafee was sponsored by Umno Youth, Shahbudin wonders whether Umno Youth leader Khairy Jamaluddin wants the public to continue regarding the case from the political perspective.

He speculates that in the coming days Shafee will be invited to Umno functions throughout the country to speak on the subject of the Anwar verdict.

“Whether he is free or in prison, Anwar continues to haunt a lot of people with his aura and influence,” says Shahbudin.