KUALA LUMPUR : Former Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Legal Affairs), Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, has warned that what happened to Muhammad Yusoff Rawther must not be allowed to happen again, describing it as a clear example of the dangers of unchecked prosecutorial discretion in Malaysia.
He said the young man could have spent the rest of his life behind bars had he been wrongly convicted, despite glaring doubts surrounding the motivation of the charges brought against him.
“This case serves as a grim reminder of how unchecked power leads to selective justice,” Zaid wrote in a Facebook post.
He also criticised the current legal framework, which grants the Attorney General (AG) near-absolute authority in deciding who to prosecute, without any realistic avenue for judicial review.
“In today’s modern democracy, it is untenable that the AG’s decision to prosecute or not prosecute remains almost completely immune from court scrutiny,” he said.
Referring to Yusoff’s 2019 police report on an alleged sexual assault, Zaid questioned the speed of the investigation and the AG’s decision not to pursue prosecution—decisions made without adequate public explanation.
“We may never know whether the police investigation was inadequate or the AG’s decision lawful, because both processes are insulated from any form of review,” he added.
This lack of oversight, Zaid warned, creates fertile ground for politically motivated decisions, bad faith, and impunity for those in power.
He urged the next government to enact laws that allow independent reviews of both police investigation papers and prosecutorial decisions in cases involving suspected abuse of power or mala fide intent.
“A transparent and independent oversight body, empowered by law to scrutinise prosecutorial conduct, must be established,” Zaid stressed.
“No public official, no matter how senior, should be above the law. Once the prosecution ceases to serve the public and starts shielding the elite, it becomes complicit in injustice,” he said.
Zaid concluded with a strong warning: failure to reform the doctrine of unchecked discretion would only ensure further abuse, “because unchecked discretion is the mother of corruption.” – HARAKAHDAILY 13/6/2025
