Minister in the Prime Minister Department Dato’ Zaid Ibrahim announced resignation as a Cabinet Minister effective immediately. This came conveniently as a response to the reply of the Home Minister Dato’ Seri Syed Hamid Al Bar on Zaid’s stance on the ISA yesterday, on the wake of three persons arrested under the same law on Friday.
The Star has the story:
Don’t use ISA, says Zaid
By IAN MCINTYRE
KOTA BARU: De facto Law Minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim (pic) stuck his neck out against the Government by condemning the use of the Internal Security Act (ISA) against civilians.
He urged the Government to revert to the original purpose of the law, which was to curb communism.
“It is time for the Government to go back to the original spirit of the ISA and it should only be used on armed terrorists or those out to topple the Government by force.
“I am not calling for a repeal of the ISA but for it to be used only when there is a real threat to national security and not on civilians,” he told a press conference at his home in Pasir Hor here yesterday.
According to Zaid, he was prepared to accept any consequences from his apparent breaking of ranks from the Cabinet over the issue of the ISA.
He said he was also willing to step down as a minister if his actions were deemed to have undermined the Government and Cabinet.
“I do not want to cause any trouble for Pak Lah (Abdullah). I respect what he is trying to change but on the matter of the ISA, I am against imposing it on civilians. I joined his administration to make changes and everybody knows, I am also for a more open-form of press reporting.”
Zaid was commenting on the arrests of Sin Chew Daily reporter Tan Hoon Cheng, Selangor senior executive councillor Teresa Kok and Malaysia Today news portal editor Raja Petra Kamaruddin on Friday under the Act. Tan was released on Saturday.
By using the ISA randomly, Zaid said, the Government was sending a message that it did not trust the capabilities of its own enforcement agencies such as the police in maintaining peace.
“There were ample punitive law to act against lawbreakers without having to invoke the ISA,” Zaid said.
Zaid, who is a Minister in the Prime Minister’s department, said the use of the ISA also creates an impression of selective prosecution as the Government cannot seemingly incarcerate everybody but only a handful.
“In this latest episode of ISA, we (the Government) have generated an impression of selective prosecution since no action was taken against the person who allegedly uttered seditious remarks. We are saying that we are only acting against those who are disloyal to us.”
He said he was glad that Tan was released but was concerned over the continued detention of the other two
*********************
Zaid was making a statement against the Internal Security Act (ISA) which provided the Police powers to detain without trial suspects who threaten national security. This law is a tool closely protected by the Government when he was appointed Cabinet Minister in March.
Zaid has not proven himself yet, after six months in office. In reality, the one term Kota Bahru MP who was not given the opportunity to re-contest as the BN candidate in the 8 March 12th General Elections was very ambitious when he first appointed Cabinet Minister in March. He promised to revamp the Legal and Judciary, in six months.
He was seen as trying to be heroic when promptly mooted the idea for the Government to apologize to sacked Lord President Tun Mohamed Salleh Abas, which the Cabinet found totally inappropriate. The fact he went against his own statement on Salleh, made when he was acting as an aspiring lawyer for UMNO.
However, Zaid was instrumental in the act to reward all the dismissed Judges in 1988, which include sacked Lord President Tun Mohamed Salleh Abas. A large undisclosed sum of ex-gratia payment were inadvertantly announced by PM ‘Flip-Flop’ Abdullah at a dinner organised by Bar Council and eventually issued personally by Zaid to the dismissed Judges, which many found inappropriate. It even construed as an attempt to make PM ‘Flip-Flop’ Abdullah look good in the eyes of the minority within the legal professionals.
It seems that that Zaid is more concerned on the Bar Council’s opinion on himself rather his own Boss or his Cabinet/party leadership colleagues. The fact that the latest development in the Kota Bahru UMNO Division, despite as a Cabinet Minister Zaid received lesser nominations from the UMNO Branches compared to Dato’ Fatmi, who was only DPM Dato’ Seri Mohd. Najib Tun Razak’s former Political Secretary. This clearly illustrate the acceptance of the former’s position into mainstream politics, even at grassroot level.
Some thought this resignation is somewhat an ‘honourable’ quick exit from the disgrace being a failed Cabinet Minister and UMNO politician.
*Updated 245pm
The Star has the developing story:
Monday September 15, 2008 MYT 2:27:53 PM
Zaid Ibrahim quits?
By SHAILA KOSHY
KUALA LUMPUR: Speculation is rife that de facto law minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim has resigned.
According to sources, the senator tendered his letter of resignation to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s office just before 2pm on Monday.
Zaid could not be reached for confirmation.
The former Kota Baru MP was not fielded to stand in the March 8 general election.
Following the general election, however, Abdullah appointed him a Senator and a Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department.
In announcing his new Cabinet on March 18, Abdullah said that Zaid would be responsible for legal matters and take on the role to reform the judiciary.
It was only last Tuesday that Zaid said he might soon become a full-blown Law Minister with the requisite authority and responsibility to help him effect legal reform.
“In fact, my own position will be reviewed to Minister of Law to give me more authority but that will take time. You can’t have responsibility without authority,” he had said then.
However on Sunday, Zaid broke from rank to say that the use of the Internal Security Act against civilians was wrong, adding that he was prepared to resign over the issue.
The "thirteen million plus Ringgit" guy rambles.... 
alhamdulillah… cakap tak serupa bikin… suruh mahyuddin resign sebab mahyuddin tak percaya kepimpinan paklah, tapi dia terang-terang buat press conference menentang dasar kerajaan paklah… mangkuk betul! anyway, we don’t need this hypocrite… good riddance to bad rubbish!
Dear Bro,
Wanna resign? Go ahead! Nobody is going to cry, nobody is going to beg for your return, and no one will ever give a damn to your missing shadow. Because nobody cares! He just a puppet for the Bar council.
Dear BD,
100%.
Positioning himself for Pakatan Rakyat, maybe?
http://www.suaradu.com
Dear Big Dog,
“Some thought this resignation is somewhat an ‘honourable’ quick exit from the disgrace being a FAILED Cabinet Minister and UMNO politician.”
you make it sound like it actually is ‘cool’ and honourable to be a AAB regime Cabinet Minister and no less, an UMNO politician. “FAILED”? he wasn’t given even a chance to succeed or fail because March 8 had no effect/impact on the other delusional Melayu’s in Cabinet; still sucking their mother’s nipple in some weird Freudian denial. you are high on something, so please let us know what it is so we can smoke that shit too.
“received lesser nominations”….. if you seem to be analyst/commentator on politics, you would be smart enough to know that the UMNO nomination process at the grassroots is severely flawed on various levels. maybe you aren’t smart enough.
and on another note, find a dictionary and figure out when to use ‘former’ and ‘latter’; that may go well with your lump of arrogant shit you type out everyday.
please continue to live in your weird dream world, so that you don’t actually have to wake up in a cold sweat when reality actually kicks in, because you will dread that day in that mental prison of yours. May Ramadhan bless you in all sorts of ways.
suaradu u positioning for che det.
Zaid’s Liberal mindedness and personal agenda is more suited to Anwar and his Opposition dreams, perhaps you now want to join Pakatan Rakyat, they would surely receive you with open arms and treat you like a Hero.
Good Bye Zaid and Good Riddance. Please Do not make a U-turn Decision and withdraw your letter of resignation, tomorrow or any other day, OK.
One of the best news so far since the fasting month began; Syukur Alhamdullilah, Almighty is Most Wise to remove one less dangerous threat to our religion and race during this Holy Month. My consistent call for him to resign finally answered. Let us pray and hope that Datuk Ambiga and those rot (liberlist reformists) in the Bar Council will be next to go and share the same fate as Zaid. If that happens, I have kenduri besar although not as big as when DSAI lands himself in jail for a good up to 20 years.
Zaid Ibrahim nak lompat ke DAP tapi mereka pun tak mahu ambik. Dia tak ada kerusi …
Zaid Ibrahim will be remembered as a bar council stooge and delivery boy for Pak Lah in sending “compensation” cheques to the judges (and I use compensation in the loosest sense) and even had an accident in his eagerness to deliver it. He will also be remembered as a minister who was appointed when he is not even an MP and was even found to have practiced money politics in UMNO! Because of this he has simply lost the moral high ground for whatever issue he is trying to argue/ propose. A hyprocrite of the highest order, I salute you!
Yang dia ni sibuk sangat nak membela orang yang dah disumbat tu apa cerita. Bukannya orang yang ditahan tu takda buat salah langsung. Semua bersebab. Tak payah nak banyak cakap, buat kecoh, dan nak jadi hero macam ni. Ke sebenarnya dia ni memang nak melompat2 macam katak gak sebenarnya. Semua ni alasan je. Sambil2 tu dapat burukkan kerajaan dengan harapan plan Anwar betul2 berhasil.
[…] heard from Big Dog that Zaid is having problems getting enough nominations to retain his Kota Bahru division chief […]
A simple resignation letter issued on the basis of one’s principles can be read in so many ways.
This is truly a site that everyone must visit for alternate views.
[…] Zaid Ibrahim resigned Minister in the Prime Minister Department Dato’ Zaid Ibrahim announced resignation as a Cabinet Minister effective […] […]
Biggy,
Do blood sucking lawyers like Zaid have principle? Please God, we are living in the real world. Only two words exist in their dictionary, win and money.
Zaid treats politics like he is practising laws. When a case is at the brink of losing, he’ll look for a deal on the table. And he succeeded in doing so, the sleepy Dollah had to publicly announce his devotion and ask Zaid to reconsider. But who cares after all!!!
Guys,
Why are you so beholden to partisan politics? You’re against he bar council just because it’s the bar council, and not individual policies or ideas that may be hatched from them.
Our country is being torn apart by attitudes such as this. The generalisation of a member of any organisation as “good” or “bad”, regardless of the nuances of their ideas.
cheers
resign or not Zaid still owe Malaysian the figures that he gave to the ex-judges …
let’s celebrate zaid departure from cabinet. all rakyats ‘re very happy with this so called liberal minded western guy . definitely he is in the wrong place at the wrong time.
adios brother.
SELEPAS BERBUKA , MUNGKIN KERANA TERLEBIH MAKAN, PERUT AKU TERASA SAKIT. SEPERTI BIASA BILA PERUT AKIT, MASUK TANDAS MELEPAS. AAARRRRRGGGHHHHH ! ! ! LEGAAAA !!
MACAM TULAH LEGANYA AKU BILA ZAID LETAK JAWATAN. TIDAK TERPALANG GEMBIRANYA AKU BILA ORANG CERDIK JADI TAK CERDIK MENGUNDURKAN DIRI !!!!
SYUKUR ! ! !
PAS RAYA NAK BUAT KENDURI KESYUKURAN
[…] when its the grassroots or the views of Malaysians that matter most? I understand that Zaid has problems defending his Kota Bahru division post…And he is not even an elected representative but an appointee, a […]
[…] his ‘Berani Berubah’ campaign for the movement top job. Highly controversial defacto Law Minister Zaid Ibrahim resigned and Anwar Ibrahim, now deemed a ’short seller and compulsive liar’. We at BigDogDotCom […]
just another spin from a clown!!