Should Lim Guan Eng step aside?
My answer is: definitely NOT. My reasons are as follows.
The question of ‘stepping aside for the time being’ will arise if the person charged is in control of, or has influence over, the Prosecution.
In this case, it is the exact OPPOSITE.
Not only does the person charged not have any influence over the Prosecution at all, it is his political foes who have such influence.
A second scenario in which the question of ‘stepping aside’ can be meaningfully asked is where there exists a truly INDEPENDENT PROSECUTION.
We clearly don’t have one. The recent sudden change of the AG is a reminder of this fact. One of the outgoing MACC top officers also recently admitted that there have been political interferences.
In our circumstances, therefore, the answer to the above question must be in the negative.
In circumstances like ours, where it is his political foes who either have control or influence over prosecution, and if an elected representative has to step aside because he is charged, then the people’s ballots will have no meaning. Democracy can be easily defeated by those in power, through misusing prosecution powers. Those in power, and who are either in control of or have influence over prosecution, can at any time wipe out or weaken their major political enemies, when outcomes of prosecutions take months and years.
This is a clear political persecution case & Perak DAP is in full solidarity with Guan Eng.