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New database tracks shifting outcomes of Malaysia’s political corruption cases
The Prosecutorial Accountability Watch database is an attempt to make sense of a justice system clouded by ‘double standards’
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An AI-powered database tracking corruption cases against Malaysia’s politicians was independently launched on Friday, putting fresh scrutiny on the status and outcomes of the country’s biggest graft prosecutions across administrations.
The Prosecutorial Accountability Watch (PAW), built by civil society group Projek SAMA and hosted with news outlet Malaysiakini, tracks 33 high-profile cases involving current and former elected representatives – from ex-prime minister Najib Razak’s 1MDB-linked prosecutions to Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s Yayasan Akalbudi case and other politicians across government and opposition blocs.
The launch comes as Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s government faces pressure to deliver a long-promised reform: separating the attorney general’s role as government legal adviser from the public prosecutor’s power to start, conduct and drop criminal cases. Reformers say this conflict has long fuelled suspicion over politically sensitive prosecutions.
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Since the 2018 election that ended six decades of Malay nationalist party Umno and its Barisan Nasional coalition rule, Malaysia has seen a wave of corruption charges against powerful politicians, followed by acquittals, discharges, appeal withdrawals and cases that appear to move in different directions whenever governments change.
According to Projek SAMA convenor Ngeow Chow Ying, the database attempts to make sense of a justice system clouded by the phrase dua darjat, a Malay expression often used to describe double standards.
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