DAP dares Nancy Shukri to speak out against A-G

De facto law minister Nancy Shukri must show she is independent and speak out against the Attorney-General (A-G) for failing to charge Datuk Ibrahim Ali over his threat to burn Bibles, a DAP lawmaker said today.

Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo (pic) said that Nancy had evidently distanced herself from Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail's reasoning on why police had not taken action against the Perkasa president.

However, he urged the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department to play a greater role in the issue and openly criticise the A-G for failing in his duties as a public prosecutor.

"As the de facto Minister of law, Nancy must play a greater role. She must demonstrate that she is independent and that she has the courage to speak up against the A-G and do what is right.

"I call upon her to step up and criticise the A-G for not prosecuting Ibrahim Ali in this case," said Gobind, who is the DAP national legal bureau chairman.

"Malaysians have no reason, in the circumstances of this case, to expect any less from whoever holds her portfolio in the federal government," he said in a statement.

Nancy has in the past few days taken to Twitter to deflect criticism over her written parliamentary reply, saying that Ibrahim had not been charged for calling Bibles to be burned as he was merely defending Islam.

She told detractors that she was simply conveying the views of "other agencies" and that she was not defending Ibrahim.

"My grandma was a non-Muslim, you think I would do such a thing? Wake up," she tweeted to a user by the handle @ET_WORLD96.

She then issued a statement on Thursday night, saying that it was the A-G Chambers' decision not to charge Ibrahim as his threat was in line with Article 11(4) of the Federal Constitution.

Gobind, reacting to her statement, said today: "That makes matters worse. It is quite clear that nothing in Article 11(4) of the Federal Constitution makes it a defence for any person to commit criminal offences.

"Such an argument is not only legally flawed but also highly offensive and insulting to the Federal Constitution."

Gobind added that Gani must step down as A-G as he was seen to be weak and selective in his choices of prosecution.

"No one has the right to commit criminal offences in defence of their religion in this country and if Gani is going to start this unlawful and dangerous trend in Malaysia, then he is to my mind, certainly unfit to be A-G."

Gobind said Gani had also lost the moral ground to remain as A-G as he had failed to act against such open and extreme disregard for racial and religious sensitivities advocated in this case.

Meanwhile, former de facto law minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim said in his latest blog post that the A-G and the police had passed the buck to Nancy to explain Ibrahim's case as they were unwilling to face the public's ire.

"The smart cookies in the government do what they have always done: ask the Cabinet member they call the de facto law minister to take the rap."

He said Nancy did what was asked of her as she wanted to remain a minister. – October 11, 2014.
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