According to the former de facto law minister, other panels, including the independent panel headed by former police chief Hanif Omar, have no powers in the law.
“It doesn’t matter who heads the panel, it has no powers to compel witnesses and issue subpoenas. If you want to have a public inquiry, the only one under the law is an RCI,” he told reporters at the Royal Lake Club, Kuala Lumpur.
Meanwhile, he said that the charging of PKR leaders Anwar Ibrahim (right), Azmin Ali and Badrul Hisham Shahrin for their involvement in Bersih 3.0 is “not a good strategy” for the government.“It is not a good strategy to charge the opposition leader so close to the elections,” he said.
He opined that the trio, who claimed trial this morning, “should not have been charged” as it was “a minor offence”.
Zaid (left)
also said that the protests which have taken place in front of Bersih
3.0 chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan’s house are “not very wise”.“People have the right to assemble but they must assemble for the right reasons. Ambiga is not dangerous. It’s not a good idea to protest (because) one does not like a person,” he said.
The protests, including an upcoming one involving the setting up of food stalls, are by a group claiming to be petty traders who allegedly incurred heavy losses due to the April 28 rally for clean and fair elections.
‘PAS doesn’t have the numbers for hudud’
On a separate matter, Zaid, who when in PKR had played a role in developing the Pakatan Rakyat common policy framework, echoed the coalition’s stand that the framework does not touch on the issue of the hudud law.
He added that he does not believe that PAS will push for hudud law to be implemented even if Pakatan comes into power.
“They cannot. They do not have the numbers,” said the politician, who has previously been vocal on his anti-hudud stand.
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