KUALA LUMPUR – Former Umno Supreme Council member Isham Jalil claims that Attorney General (AG) Datuk Ahmad Terrirudin Mohd Salleh has backed away from his “promise” not to proceed with contempt charges.
He told Scoop today that initially, the AG had proposed to drop Isham’s charges if he apologised via representation letter, and that apologising would save the court’s time and legal fees.
“After consideration, I decided to agree and sent in the said letter so initially, July 10 is fixed for the court to know the status of my representation letter.
“But instead, today, I was informed that the AG had changed his mind, and decided to proceed with the charge. I had no idea what made him change his mind,” he said.
Isham also took to his Facebook page, saying that he had received a phone call when campaigning in Sg Bakap last night where the caller had demanded him to “tone down” his criticism against the government or face charges in court.
“I told the bully ‘okay, please continue’. I will not be silenced and I will continue fighting. Today, I was informed that the AG will continue with the charge against me, and that they wanted me to either pay a fine or go to jail.
“But if I pay the fine, it means that I am guilty and may not be able to contest in the next election. I guess, maybe this is what they want, which is to keep me out by putting me in jail. I saw that they were scared when citizens voiced their displeasure with the government.
“I will fight the injustice, lies, and tyranny of the leaders of this government so that our future and our children’s children will be better than now,” he said in his Facebook post.
He also said that the court cannot be used as an avenue for political games.
“When something unfair or wrong happens to the judicial system, we need to rebuke them so that they correct it. Judges are not infallible.
“The judicial system is very important, so, if the people see that they are unfair and continue injustice, then it will be more difficult to enforce the law.”
The high court granted the AG permission on March 4 to initiate a committal proceeding against Isham for contempt of court, over his comments on Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s court cases.
On April 23, media reported that Isham had expressed an intention to offer the AG an unreserved apology over his comments. – July 5, 2024