Ex-PM Muhyiddin Yassin appears to be going places alright! Fresh from his annual winter family holidays in London barely two months ago, he has now applied to the court to release his passport temporarily for some important happenings up north in Thailand!
According to a report in FMT, this time, the Bersatu president wants to travel to Bangkok to attend the opening ceremony of Phrigkiao, a restaurant run by a Malaysian there.
In his affidavit in support of the application, he had stated that a person close to him has opened a halal food outlet in the Thai capital and apparently he wants the Pagoh MP to be present at the ceremony.
Incidentally, a quick check in the internet showed an existing posh-looking restaurant in Bangkok city going by the name of “Phrigkiao”, which in its Facebook page mentioned that it serves authentic Thai halal cuisine with some pretty irresistible offerings such as “crab roe chilli paste” and “spicy papaya salad with seafood” amongst a host of other spicy, mouthwatering quintessential Thai dishes!
For the record, the former prime minister, who is facing three money laundering charges involving RM200 million in funds linked to the controversial Jana Wibawa programme, had made the application to the court to have his passport released to him temporarily, saying that he intends to leave for Bangkok on Feb 15 and return by Feb 21; thereafter he will return the passport to the court on Feb 23.
Besides, Muhyiddin had confided that apart from going to the restaurant, his visit there would also include meeting friends in Bangkok and other parts of Thailand; he had rued the fact that apparently ever since being charged he has been unable to meet them! Well, certainly no harm trying to kill several birds with one stone, right?
However, it looks like he may have a big hurdle to clear though; this is because the prosecution is strongly objecting to his application to have the passport back, whereby in an affidavit to oppose his request, deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Zander Lim had highlighted the reasons furnished by Muhyiddin seems unsupportable.
DPP Zander had pointed out that there are proceedings in court “on the same day” as his departure date (Feb 15) which Muhyiddin is obliged to attend; therefore he had argued that the ex-PM has neither the right nor privilege to be handed over the passport, which is kept by the court as he is still facing money laundering charges.
Moreover, according to the DPP, the Perikatan Nasional chairman knows full well about the court appointment date and yet he had gone on to book a flight ticket to leave for Bangkok!
For the record, Sessions court judge Azura Alwi is already scheduled to hear an application by the prosecution to stay all proceedings in connection with the said money laundering charges pending a related appeal on that date; she has now fixed Muhyiddin’s application for the release of his passport for hearing on the same day.
In fact, last November, following a similar request by Muhyiddin, judge Azura had temporarily released his passport to enable him to go on a family holiday to London and a medical check-up in Singapore.
For context, Muhyiddin’s passport was originally surrendered to the court after he was charged last year with abuse of power and money laundering linked to the said Jana Wibawa program for which he had posted bail of RM2 million.
However, last August, the High Court struck out four of the abuse of power charges brought against him on grounds they were defective and did not disclose any offence known to law; the prosecution has since appealed that ruling to the Court of Appeal, which is slated to hear it on Feb 28 and 29.
While there may be nothing wrong with extending support to a close friend's business venture in a neighbouring country whose economy is also recovering after being badly hit by the pandemic, it's left to be seen whether the court will accede to his request this time around; moreover, critics might also unkindly ask: where will he be heading next month, after this - Indonesia? To grace the opening of an ayam penyet outlet there?
Incidentally, Muhyiddin, who used to be referred to with the moniker abah (daddy) and whose party had recently “lost” six of its MPs to Anwar's unity government, has been a fierce critic of the latter stressing that he is hopeless in managing the country - and is often overseas! (Read here)
Then recently, while commenting on the poor state of the nation's economy now, he had also criticised the current leadership for not doing enough to help the recovery of businesses in this country.
Primary Information Source: FMT
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