COMMENT | The adage that desperate times call for desperate measures has taken a totally different meaning. In some circumstances, actions that may not be acceptable under certain circumstances may become the best choice.

But former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak’s latest measure beats them all. He is hauling Malaysia to an arm of the United Nations (UN) over what he terms arbitrary detention.

His lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah told a media briefing yesterday that the petition was filed digitally at the UN Human Rights Council Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) often referred to as the Working Group.

Shafee said they filed the petition to get the Working Group to...