Outspoken Law Minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, a brilliant lawyer from Kelantan and one previously associated with Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah’s unsuccessful challenge of Tun Dr Mahathir Muhammad for the Umno presidency in 1987, has quit the Malaysian cabinet.
It is learnt that he was unhappy over the use of detention-without-trial by his colleague Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar against a journalist and a Selangor prince who openly incited the people to oust the ruling conservative coalition Barisan Nasional (BN) or National Front.
Zaid is a firm believer in the liberal, democratic ideals of former Prime Ministers Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra and Tun Hussein Onn and has blamed Dr Mahathir for “closing the liberal space” of the country and current Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi for “being unable to liberalise the political climate after years of authoritarianism”.
