When a court order becomes a court ordeal — Rosli Khan

On November 10, a court order concerning former Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's release following his payment of a RM50 million fine was analyzed. The first thought was that the document was likely fake, due to a peculiar heading and location. The document was also found to have a mix of English and Bahasa Melayu, which is unprofessional.

The document also contained typos, spelling and sentence structure errors. Although the document was addressed to the officer-in-charge of Kajang prison, the prisoner's background information listed only one charge, instead of identifying the three charges under three different Acts. Furthermore, the client's name was inconsistent, appearing sometimes with "Mohd" and sometimes without it.

The most puzzling part was a confusing sentence at the end of the first column, which offered three different options for the prisoner to serve the remainder of his sentence. This order of release, which was applied for by Najib's lawyers, should have been followed carefully to avoid confusion. The attorney-general's Chambers (AGC) should seek clarification from the court to resolve the legal confusion and conflicting orders.