SHAH ALAM, 8 April —There is no conflict of interest for the government following UMNO’s decision to submit an application to the Yang di-Dipertuan Agong to consider giving its former president Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak a pardon.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said the matter should not arise as everyone can apply for a pardon and all parties should comply with the stipulated rules and conditions.
“Even though it goes through a process and I am in that process, in the end, the question of awarding medals and pardons is the authority and discretion of the Yang di-Dipertuan Agong and does not need to be discussed publicly,” he told the media after launching the Rights To The City: Kita Untuk Kita (K2K) programme at PPR Kampung Baru Hicom Apartments, here today.
Anwar said it was too early for him to give any comment on the matter as there was no paper or process implemented so far for the application other than the decision made at the UMNO level.
“I don’t want to preclude anyone in that matter, but the process in the court is very liberated, it has to be followed and respected. The final decision is solely by the Yang di-Dipertuan Agong,” he said.
Meanwhile, Anwar, who is also the Minister of Finance, hit out at Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin over the latter’s statement which criticised him for wanting to negotiate with China regarding the overlapping claim in the South China Sea.
“The problem is, he did not read my statement that we will continue the Petronas exploration project (in the South China Sea area). I did not say anything about wanting to tolerate and this is what I conveyed to China.
“I have consistently said that exploration by Petronas will continue in the area that we believe it is in our area, but now China says no, this is an overlapping area. I said OK we can talk,” he added.
