KUALA LUMPUR, June 17 — The results of the 14th general election was a showcase of the “people’s court” and demonstrates why the maxim “innocent until proven guilty” is not applicable on former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, DAP’s Lim Kit Siang said today.

The Iskandar Puteri MP backed fellow Pakatan Harapan (PH) lawmaker Hanipa Maidin who had earlier issued a statement saying that the maxim has to apply within context or it will be rendered ridiculous.

“I fully agree with the Amanah MP for Sepang, Hanipa Maidin, who stressed that the maxim of a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty by court is only applicable in certain contexts, specifically during the judicial process.

“This is because the People’s Court in the 14th General Election had pronounced Najib guilty of the 1MDB kleptocratic scandal, a major issue in the general election campaign, evicting as Prime Minister of Malaysia,” Lim said in a statement.

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He added that because of Najib, the country’s reputation has been marred, and called for a stop to attempts to whitewash the Pekan MP’s involvement in the globally infamous embezzlement scandal.

Some visitors to Najib’s Hari Raya open house in Pekan, Pahang on Friday had held up the maxim in response to criticism against the former government leader.

Lim asked if the public response would have been the same if Indonesia’s president Joko Widodo or Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had similarly come under US investigation for suspected misappropriation of their countries’ respective sovereign funds.

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